After back-to-back losses to the defending champions England and Australia, the Indian women's cricket team's campaign got back on track on Tuesday, March 22 in Hamilton as they managed to achieve a comfortable 110-run win over their neighbours Bangladesh. Yastika Bhatia’s gritty half-century and Sneh Rana’s all-round performance powered India a dominating 110-run win over Bangladesh and kept them in the hunt for a semifinal spot at the ICC Women’s World Cup.
Opting to bat, India recovered from a mid-inning collapse to post a modest 229 for seven, riding on a responsible 80-ball 50 by Bhatia and a late flourish from Rana (27) and Pooja Vastrakar (30). Defending the total, the spinners, led by Rana (4/30), controlled the proceedings as they struck at regular intervals. India bowled out Bangladesh for 119 in 40.3 overs to register their third win of the tournament. The big win helped India improve their Net-Run-Rate (0.768) further.
After a 155-run win against the West Indies in their third game of the tournament, the 2017 runners-up looked on track to seal a semis berth, however, consecutive losses against the two top sides derailed their campaign to an extent where a top-four finish looked improbable.
However, a few other results going their way in the last couple of days have meant that the Women in Blue have the destiny in their own hands. With Pakistan bringing up their first win of the competition against the high-flying West Indies and England ending the home side New Zealand's chances, India now have a clear way to a spot in the semi-finals.
India eclipsed West Indies at the No. 3 spot in the points table with a positive net run rate even though both teams have three wins against their name. On the other hand, South Africa's unbeaten run came to an end in the earlier game when they faced off the marauding Meg Lanning-led Australian side.
If India do win their last game against South Africa, they will qualify for the semi-finals. However, in case of a loss, the scenario could face an NRR conundrum featuring three sides - England, West Indies and India. The Women in Blue are well-placed in that regard as they have a positive net run rate of +0.77.
