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The International Cricket Council (ICC) have fined India of five per cent of their match fees for maintaining a slow over-rate during their Women's World Cup clash against Australia. The sanctions were imposed by Michell Fereira, who is a part of the Emirates ICC International Panel of Match Referees.
Notably, the Women in Blue were found to be only one over short of their target after the time allowances. The charge was levelled by on-field umpires Sue Redfern and Nimali Perera, third umpire Kim Cotton and fourth official Jacquline Williams. India captain Harmanpreet Kaur pled guilty to the charges and thus, no formal hearing was required.
Meanwhile, the match between India and Australia turned out to be an absolute blockbuster. Alyssa Healy's spectacular century and Ellyse Perry's unbeaten cameo of 47 carried the deffending champions over the line after they had been given a mammoth 331-run target by Harmanpreet & Co.
After being invited to bat first by the Aussies, India made a fine start thanks to the opening pair of Pratika Rawal and Smriti Mandhana. The duo smacked opposing bowlers all around the ACA-VDCA stadium in Visakhapatnam and formed a brilliant partnership of 155 runs before Mandhana was dismissed for 80. While Pratika also lost her wicket soon after for 75 runs, valiant cameos from Harleen Deol (38), Jemimah Rodrigues (33) and Richa Ghosh (32) saw the hosts post a massive total of 330 runs on the board before being bundled out.
Healy punished Indian bowlers
In reply, Australia also got off to a strong start thanks to Healy and Phoebe Litchfield. India broke the partnership in the 12th over by dismissing Litchfield but by that time, Australia already had 85 runs on the board. Healy and Perry looked to be going strong at one stage, but the latter had to retire hurt soon after. India got the big wickets of Beth Mooney and Annabel Sutherland in quick succession, but Healy kept on scoring runs from the other end.
Perry's heroics lead Australia to victory
The Australia skipper completed her century in just 84 deliveries and formed a crucial 95-run stand with Ashleigh Gardner to take her side very close to the target. India looked to be back in the game when Healy eventually lost her wicket for 142 runs in the 39th over, however Perry returned to the crease and proved to be Australia's saviour.
She took them home with just six deliveries left to spare and massively helped Australia in maintaining their winning streak in the tournament. On the other hand, this was India's second consecutive defeat of the World Cup and they will be hoping to get backl to winning ways in their next fixture that will be against England and will be held on October 19.
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