WI Women win thriller - Three-run victory eliminates India, seals semi-final spot

MOHALI, India (CMC):

West Indies Women secured a semi-final spot after knocking out hosts India in their Group B game of the Twenty20 World Cup at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium here yesterday.

Brilliant death bowling by Deandra Dottin in a nail-biting final over spurred West Indies to a three-run win over India.

Dottin picked up three wickets and got support from Afy Fletcher, who grabbed two as West Indies choked the Indian chase and prevented them from surpassing their 114 for eight.

Earlier, Dottin combined forces with her captain Stafanie Taylor in a 77-run fourth wicket stand after Indian spinners reduced West Indies to 26 for three.

Taylor top scored with 57 from 45 balls, including five fours, while Dottin hit 45 off 40 balls, while scoring the same number of boundaries.

The two players, known for their aggression, changed styles to accumulate runs from the Indian spinners, including as many as 38 singles to help setup the win.

They were the only two batters who stood out since no other West Indian player scored more than six runs.

Four wickets fell for 11 runs when the partnership between Taylor and Dottin expired.

Harmanpreet Kaur (4-23) and Anuja Patil (3-16), stifled the Windies top order and stunned the lower order.

Shamilia Connell gave West Indies the ideal start when she bowled opener Mithali Raj with the first ball of the innings.

Dottin, who picked up three for 16 and Fletcher, with two for 15, curbed India's chase despite a rally in the middle overs.

Anuja Patel led with 26 and Jhulan Goswami was run out for 25 after keeping India in the game with an innings that brought them within sight of victory, with 20 needed off the last two overs.

Still, West Indies piled on the pressure with impressive fielding that helped them save at least 10 runs.

Inspired by a festive crowd, India looked on course again as the third ball of the penultimate over went for a six to bring the target down to 12 off nine balls.

With India needing 10 runs from the final over, Dottin resurrected immaculate death bowling skills to leave them short.

She removed Ekta Bisht with a yorker, forced the run out of Shikha Pandey and with the penultimate ball of the final over tricked Sushma Verma into lobbing a catch to Taylor.