Australia beat India to reach T20 World Cup semis

SUMMARY: Australia 151 for 8 (Grace Harris 40, Tahila McGrath 32, Ellyse Perry 32, Renuka Singh 2-24; Deepti Sharma 2-28) beat India 142 for 9 (Harmanpreet Kaur 54*, Deepti Sharma 29; Annabel Sutherland 2-22, Sophie Molineux 2-32) by nine runs

Australia secured its place in the Women’s T20 World Cup semi-finals with a nine-run win over India, which faced a nervous wait to see if it would join the final four.

The defending champions are certain of topping Group A after winning all four games, but second-placed India need New Zealand to lose to Pakistan on Monday and stay ahead of both sides on net run-rate (NRR) to progress.

Needing 152 to win and backed by a large and raucous crowd in Sharjah, India batted aggressively and gamely kept up with the rate.

They needed 14 to win off the final over thanks to an excellent 54 from 47 balls from captain Harmanpreet Kaur.

But Australia seamer Annabel Sutherland held her nerve, with her over costing just four runs for the loss of three wickets to seal the win.

Australia, who were without injured captain Alyssa Healy, earlier recovered from the loss of two early wickets to post 151-8 – their highest score of the tournament.

Opener Grace Harris top-scored with 40 from 41 balls, while Ellyse Perry and stand-in captain Tahlia McGrath each added 32. (BBC)