India Women vs Australia Women, CWG 2022 Final, Stats Review: Ashleigh Gardner’s best bowling figures, Australia's supremacy and other stats

Australian Women’s Cricket team continued on their merry way as they dominated yet another major tournament by winning the final of the Commonwealth Games Women’s Cricket Competition 2022 against India by nine runs. With this victory, the Aussies proudly bagged the gold medal in Birmingham while Harmanpreet Kaur-led Indian side had to settle for the silver. Chasing 162 in 20 overs, an Indian win looked inevitable but a batting collapse saw them missing the golden opportunity to win the CWG Gold.

Speaking about how the exciting final game unfolded, captain Meg Lanning won the toss and elected to bat first. Wicketkeeper batter Alyssa Healy got dismissed for just seven but her opening partner Beth Mooney was one of the reasons for Australia’s glory. The left-handed batter struck 61 off 48 with the help of eight fours. Lanning contributed 36 off 26 for her side while Ashleigh Gardner smashed 25 off just 15 as the Women in Yellow reached a total of 161/8. Renuka Singh was the pick of the Indian bowlers yet again for her spell of 2/25 in four overs. She ended up as the highest wicket-taker with 11 scalps in the tournament

In the run-chase, Smriti Mandhana got bowled round her legs for just six while Shafali Verma, who looked in a hurry, lost her wicket after scoring 11 off seven. Skipper Harmanpreet and Jemimah Rodrigues then stitched a 96-run partnership to bring their side back into the contest. The former struck a half-century before getting out on quickfire innings of 65 off 43. Jemimah scored a run-a-ball 33 and from 118/3, the Asian side lost their way and got bundled out for 152.

No other Indian player crossed the 20-run mark as they saw the match and the gold slipped through their hands. Gardner took her career-best figures of 3/16 and proved to be the difference as well as a game-changer. With this victory, Australia’s dominance in world cricket extended as the winners of the 2018 and 2020 T20 World Cups, 2022 50-overs World Cup entered the history books once again with the Commonwealth Games Gold Dedal.

Meanwhile, here are some of the important stats and numbers from the final between India Women and Australia Women in the Commonwealth Games Competition 2022:

 13 – Beth Mooney has now struck the second-most fifties (13) for Australia in T20Is. She surpassed Alyssa Healy and Elyse Villani’s tally of 12 half-centuries each. Meg Lanning tops the chart with 15 50s.

5 – Mooney has now smashed five half-centuries against India in T20Is, which is the most she has scored against any team. She has four fifties against the English side.

1618 – Harmanpreet Kaur has now scored the most runs (1618) by an Indian captain (men’s and women’s). Virat Kohli with 1570 runs occupies the second spot.

3/16 – Ashleigh Gardner scripted her best bowling figures of 3/16 in the shortest international format. Her previous best was 3/22 which came against England in 2018.

18 – Australia have now won 18 out of the 25 T20 internationals against India. They have faced defeat in only six games and one encounter ended in no result.

2 – Renuka Singh is now tied with R Ashwin in the second position for picking up most wickets (11) for India in a T20I tournament. Ashwin also took 11 scalps in the 2014 T20 WC while RP Singh scalped 12 wickets in the 2007 T20 WC and is at the top.

65 – Harmanpreet recorded her highest score of 65 against Australia in 23 T20I innings. Her previous highest of 57 came in Visakhapatnam in the year 2012.

4 – Dominant Australian team captured fourth successive major tournament to their name. They lifted the T20 World Cups in the years 2018 and 2020 and also the 50-overs WC in 2022.

161/8 – Australia registered the highest total (20 overs or all-out innings) of 161/8 against India at a neutral venue. Their previous highest was 119 at Providence in Guyana in the T20 World Cup 2018.

3 – India have now lost three consecutive finals of a major tournament. They lost against England in the 2017 World Cup, against Australia in the 2020 T20 World Cup, and now the CWG 2022 Gold medal game.