The T20 Women’s World Cup final, which saw Australia crowned champions for the 5th time, was a beautiful showcase for Cricket, Sport, Women and everyone around the world, writes Khalid Mohidin.
Australia took on India in front of 90,000 Cricket Fanatics at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Sunday.
It was a moment for the history books. On International Women’s Day, the final was kicked off the day before the final when Katy Perry met both finalists.
She spoke about empowering Women and what this incredible event means not only to cricket and sport but to all women around the world.
She followed this up with an incredible performance as the curtain-raiser for the magnificent event.
This was the biggest Women’s Cricket Match in the World and ranks amongst the highest-attended cricket matches in history.
As stated by the ICC: “Across ICC’s digital and social platforms, fans have engaged in greater numbers than ever before with an unprecedented 701 million video views to date.
“This is a record for ICC women’s events with the previous best coming in 2017 for the Women’s Cricket World Cup, which netted a total of 100 million views from the whole event.
“Meanwhile, the official tournament social channels have attracted 34 million engagements and over 2 billion impressions with fans.”
The quality of cricket matched the magnitude of the event.
Australia batted first and entertained the crowd with electrifying attacking cricket. They scored 184/4 thanks to exquisite batting from Alyssa Healy (75 off 39 balls) and Beth Mooney (78 off 54 balls).
Their athleticism in the field was even more impressive. They bowled with accuracy, consistency and attacking intent as India crumbled under pressure and were bowled out for 99, losing by 85 runs. Megan Schutt and Jess Jonassen starred with 4/18 and 3/20 respectively.
Australia after winning in 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2018, added the 2020 title to their cabinet to extend their dominance in the sport.
Not only did they do their nation proud, but the entire world, by being incredible advocates for the game of cricket.
For the Women’s game, this has been an incredible showcase of the game and reiterates that Women’s cricket is on the rise.
Photo: ICC