India Falls Short in Womens T20 World Cup Semifinal Dream, Loses to Australia by 6 Wickets

London, June 28: India has missed the opportunity to secure a semifinal spot in the Women’s T20 World Cup 2026. On Sunday, the ‘Women in Blue’ lost their final group stage match against Australia by 6 wickets, effectively ending their hopes of advancing to the last four.

From Group A, Australia and South Africa have qualified for the semifinals, while England and West Indies progressed from Group B.

In the match held at Lord’s, India won the toss and opted to bat first, scoring 170 runs while losing 4 wickets. Smriti Mandhana and Shefali Verma formed a solid opening partnership, adding 66 runs off 55 balls. Shefali scored 34 runs from 26 balls, hitting 2 sixes and 3 fours before being dismissed. Mandhana then partnered with Jemimah Rodrigues for the second wicket, contributing an additional 17 runs.

Mandhana played a commendable innings, scoring 38 runs off 37 balls with 6 boundaries. However, India lost both openers by the time they reached 83 runs. Captain Harmanpreet Kaur stepped up, adding 64 runs off 45 balls with Rodrigues for the third wicket, putting the team in a strong position.

Jemimah retired out at a score of 34, while Kaur scored 56 runs off 27 balls, including 3 sixes and 6 fours. With this performance, she became the third-fastest player to score a half-century in T20 cricket against Australia. For Australia, captain Sophie Molinuex took 2 wickets.

In response, Australia chased down the target in just 19 overs. They lost their first wicket early, with Georgia Voll dismissed for just 4 runs. However, Phoebe Litchfield steadied the innings, adding 50 runs with Beth Mooney for the second wicket off 40 balls.

Litchfield scored 24 runs from 25 balls, hitting 3 boundaries. Australia lost Mooney for 22 runs at a score of 68. From there, Ellyse Perry and Ashley Gardner formed a formidable partnership, adding 100 runs for the fourth wicket off 57 balls, snatching the match away from India. Perry scored 56 runs off 38 balls with 8 boundaries, while Gardner remained unbeaten with 53 runs off 29 balls, including 3 sixes and 3 fours. For India, Shree Charni took 2 wickets, while Deepti Sharma and Renuka Thakur claimed 1 wicket each.