Australia put on an authoritative show at the Newlands Cricket Stadium on Thursday as they crushed India by 5 runs to book their seats in the final of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023. India were hence denied yet another opportunity to make the finals of an ICC event since the 2020 Women’s World T20. Harmanpreet Kaur, who led the side a day after being down with fever, was left teary-eyed after the side crashed out while being consoled by former captain Anjum Chopra. 

Australian openers Alyssal Healy and Beth Mooney played in top-class fashion, their pyrotechnics leaving Indian attack clueless, as they stitched a record 172-run stand to put Indian batting order to the test. In response, India’s top-three struggled considerably on the Newlands pitch despite Kaur netting a blistering half-century. Jemimah Rodrigues’ quickfire 43 provided some respite for India, but was never quite enough to ensure India a ticket to the final.