India booked their place in the Commonwealth Games final with a thrilling four-run victory over England in front of a bumper crowd at Edgbaston, thanks largely to a blistering half-century from Smriti Mandhana.
Unlike the group matches, which were played on hybrid pitches, the semi-final was played on a turf pitch and the result was a high-scoring affair in which the runs flowed freely.
Set 165 for victory, England started briskly but a series of run outs slowed the chase and the growing run rate put pressure on their middle order.
The loss means England will now play the loser of the second semi-final between Australia and New Zealand for the bronze medal, while India have their shot at gold on Sunday.
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Magnificent Mandhana
India’s opening partnership of Mandhana and Shafali Verma has clicked nicely during the tournament, with Mandhana taking the leading role early on, and their aggressive approach continued in the powerplay.
Mandhana showed sublime touch, with crisp strokes along the ground and a couple of glorious heaves over deep midwicket, as she capitalised on a helpful pitch and bowling that too often missed the right lengths, bringing up 50 runs in just 23 balls.
Verma played a supporting role, allowing Mandhana to dominate the strike, and the pair plundered 68 runs during the powerplay, leaving Nat Sciver - standing in as captain for the injured Heather Knight - the unenviable task of containing the batters as she rotated her bowlers.
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Verma made 15 off 14 deliveries before top-edging a slower ball from Freya Kemp to Katherine Brunt, who took a simple catch running in from mid-off, and when Mandhana fell for 61 off 32 in the next over, falling into England’s trap as she paddled a Sciver ball to Issy Wong at short fine leg, India were 77/2.
But the openers had well and truly done their job, paving the way for an Indian total that was always likely to be challenging.
Rodrigues floats and stings
Jemimah Rodrigues has been India’s floating batter in the line up, coming in at three, four or five, depending on Harmanpreet Kaur’s needs.
The diminutive dynamo took charge of the innings, belting seven boundaries in her 44 runs off 31 balls, three of them off one Sciver over, and she was ably assisted by Kaur (20 off 20) and Deepti Sharma (22 off 20) as she kept India’s scoring rate ticking.
A feature of Rodrigues' game is her willingness to go for singles and run hard between the wickets and it was on display at Edgbaston as she consistently put England’s fielders under pressure.
After losing two batting partners in two balls in the final over, Katherine Brunt taking a catch off her own bowling to dismiss Sharma before combining with Dani Wyatt to run out Pooja Vastraka for a duck, Rodrigues closed out India’s innings in style by spanking a lofted cover drive for four.
England’s sprightly start before run out woes
After India set the standard with Mandhana’s powerplay fireworks, England were no slouches early in the chase, blasting 58 runs off the first six overs.
But that came with the loss of Sophia Dunkley’s wicket, out for 19 off 10, when she missed a sweep shot off Sharma and was pinged on the front pad.
What followed was the first of three run outs that proved costly both in terms of wickets and a slowing of the run rate.
Alice Capsey was going for a tight second after stroking the ball over backward point. Sneh Rana fired the ball back to wicketkeeper Taniya Bhatia and, although Capsey made a valiant dive, the back of her bat was face down and not grounded even though it was over the line.
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Two more run outs followed the wicket of Wyatt, who dragged a wide delivery from Rana onto her stumps as she shuffled across outside off stump and attempted a scoop shot.
Sciver (41 off 43) pushed for a second but was caught just short of her crease thanks to the whip-like arm of Mandhana sprinting in from deep midwicket and Amy Jones (31 off 24) was the victim of another fine piece of fielding, this time from Radha Yadav in the covers.
It left England with too much to do in the final two overs and, while Sophie Ecclestone’s six off the final delivery meant England fell short by just four runs, there was a sense of confidence and control as India held their nerve to secure victory.
