There were dramatic scenes at the Lord’s on Sunday when England edged out India in a spectacular nine run win in the Women’s World Cup final. Setting a target of 229 to win, India was well on course for victory at 191 for three in front of a packed house of more than 26,000. Anya Shrubsole had different ideas in her mind and took five wickets for 11 runs in 19 deliveries as India succumbed to some great bowling by her. Punam Raut, for India was going great guns when Shrubsole dismissed her lbw for 86 and sparked a dramatic collapse. She finished with impressive figures of six for 46 in 9.4 over’s as England lifted their fourth World Cup title and third on front of their home crowd and on course of victory gaining revenge for their opening group stage loss to India. This was India’s second essay into the Women’s World Cup final and definitely a better attempt this time when compared to the 2005 outing. India began it campaign with four straight wins which included a win over England also but then they fell to two big losses to South Africa and Australia. They ended their league matches with an excellent victory over New Zealand taking them to the semi-final. A historic knock of 171 not out by Harmanpreet Kaur masterminded the great victory over Australia in the semis and the entire country was all keyed up for the girls to make history in the final against England. Jhulan Goswami, the leading One-day International wicket taker, at 34 and probably playing her last world cup produced one of her best spells in the match to take 3 for 23. Finally India would not have won the world cup 2017 but the team did a sensational job right from the start of the tournament and won the hearts of many and this is definitely going to be new chapter in the history of Indian women’s cricket. There were many positive points India would love take back as memories.
