GUWAHATI: India's campaign at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 came to an end on Sunday, June 29, after they suffered a six-wicket defeat to Australia in a must-win Group A match at Lord’s.
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Chasing a challenging target of 171, the six-time champions reached the total in 19 overs, thanks to unbeaten half-centuries from Ellyse Perry and Ashleigh Gardner. The pair stitched together a match-winning partnership after Australia had briefly come under pressure in the middle overs.
India made a dream start with the ball as pacer Renuka Singh dismissed opener Georgia Voll in the first over. Beth Mooney and Phoebe Litchfield then steadied the innings before spinners Sree Charani and Deepti Sharma removed Litchfield and Mooney respectively, leaving Australia at 68/3.
However, Perry and Gardner turned the game around with an aggressive stand, accelerating the scoring in the latter half of the innings. The duo targeted the Indian bowlers, taking 17 runs off a Radha Yadav over, 16 off Sree Charani, 12 off Shafali Verma and another 17 off Renuka Singh to seal the chase with an over to spare.
Earlier, India posted 170 after opting to bat. Openers Smriti Mandhana (38) and Shafali Verma (34) gave the team a solid start with a 66-run partnership, though the scoring rate remained below seven runs an over for most of the innings.
Shafali was bowled by Australia captain Sophie Molineux, while Mandhana was run out shortly afterwards, leaving India under pressure in the middle overs. Jemimah Rodrigues and skipper Harmanpreet Kaur rebuilt the innings before Rodrigues retired hurt. Harmanpreet then provided the late flourish, smashing three consecutive sixes in the final over to lift India to a competitive total.
Australia made several changes to their bowling attack, opting for a pace-heavy combination with Lucy Hamilton and Kim Garth sharing the new ball, while leg-spinner Alana King was left out. Veteran all-rounders Ellyse Perry and Ashleigh Gardner also bowled during the powerplay as Australia experimented despite already being in a strong position.
The defeat knocked India out of the tournament, while Australia advanced to the knockout stage after maintaining their unbeaten run in the competition.