Jhulan Goswami returned with figures of 3/23 in her 10 overs. (Source: Reuters)
India are taking on England in the final of the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017 at Lord’s. England after winning the toss opted to bat first and looked pretty solid in the start of their innings but were soon pushed on the backfoot after Jhulan Goswami returned with figures of 3/23 in her quota of 10 overs. Hailing Jhulan’s performance, former Indian opener Virender Sehwag appreciated her bowling and tweeted, “Jhulan ne Jhula daala. Wonderful fightback from India. #WWCFinal2017”
England openers Lauren Winfield and Tammy Beaumont put on a partnership of 47 before Rajeshwari Gayakwad struck to remove Winfield for 24 and later Poonam Yadav scalped Beamount for 23.
Jhulan ne Jhula daala.
Wonderful fightback from India.#WWCFinal2017— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) 23 July 2017
Goswami’s wickets included the dismissals of Sarah Taylor, Natalie Sciver and Fran Wilson. The right-arm bowler bagged two back-to-back wickets in 38th over when she removed Sciver and Wilson on consecutive deliveries. India are playing their second final in the history of women’s World Cup. They last played a women’s World Cup final in 2005 under the captaincy of Mithali Raj.
The Mithali Raj-led Indian team now need 229 runs to lift the cup and create history. For England, it was Sciver scored 51 while Sarah Taylor chipped in with 45 during the course.
Earlier, India reached final of this World Cup edition after 12 years. They last achieved the feat in 2005 under the captaincy of Mithali Raj but lost to Australia. Harmanpreet Kaur played a vital role in guiding India to a fascinating win over Australia in the semi final match at Derby when she scored an unbeaten 171 off just 115 runs. In a rain-curtailed match, India rode on Kaur’s batting heroics to post 281/4 in 42 overs. Mithali’s troops then bundled out Meg Lanning’s side for 245 to win the match by 36 runs.
