Punam century goes in vain as India lose to Australia by 8 wickets

India’s semifinal chances suffer huge setback as Mithali Raj’s team drops to fourth on the points table

India’s semifinal prospects suffered a massive setback after Australia cantered to a convincing eightwicket win, riding on a superb batting show by their top-order in the ICC Women’s World Cup here on Wednesday.

Put into bat, opener Punam Raut’s fighting century and a 69 from record-breaking skipper Mithali Raj enabled India to post a decent 226 for seven in their sixth group league match.

Australia overhauled the target with 29 balls to spare, scoring 227 for two, courtesy some fine batting by skipper Meg Lanning (76*) and Ellyse Perry (60*). Beth Mooney (45) and Nicole Bolton (36) laid the foundation with a 62-run opening partnership in 15.4 overs.

Mithali said at the postmatch presentation ceremony, “It was a decent total after losing our first wicket in the first couple of overs. We should have got more runs in the middle overs, but it was still a competitive total. But the bowlers didn’t look penetrative, it was a slow wicket.”

After this loss, India are now placed at the fourth spot with eight points.

They will have to win their next and final league match against New Zealand to make the knockout stage. “Even for New Zealand, probably, it will be a do-ordie match. If we look forward to qualifying, we really need to upgrade our quality of cricket,” Mithali said. “We’ve come into this World Cup looking to win it, just like every other team. There’s been some very good cricket played, and every game from here on is going to be high-quality,” Lanning said.