India women lost the CWG 2022 final match to Australia on August 7, 2022, in Edgbaston after failing to chase down the 162-run target. India, who were 118/2 at one stage, were dismissed for 152 runs and lost the gold medal by 9 runs, and had to be content with the silver medal.
New Zealand had earlier defeated hosts England to win the bronze medal.
Meanwhile, a controversy had erupted ahead of the match as Australia all-rounder Tahlia McGrath tested positive for Covid-19 and after consulting the medical team at the CWG 2022, was allowed to participate in the match.
Talking after the final match, India captain Harmanpreet Kaur revealed that the Indian team had been informed of McGrath’s positive test prior to the toss but they had no objections to allowing her to play in the match for Australia’s side.
“They informed us before the toss. That was something not in our control because the Commonwealth has to take the decision. We were OK because she (Tahlia McGrath) wasn’t very ill, so we just decided to play.
We had to show the sportsman’s spirit. We’re happy that we didn’t say no to Tahlia because that (missing the final) would have been very hard-hitting for her,” Harmanpreet said after the match.
After the talented 26-year-old came out as Covid positive, the whole conjecture surrounded around should she be allowed to field or not. Amidst such discussions, the toss was also delayed by more than 10 minutes. McGrath went wicketless and only managed two runs with the bat.
On the other hand, Australia opener Beth Mooney said that she was happy McGrath got to play in the historic gold medal match.
She said, “It’s a real shame that in elite sport you get publicly shamed for having Covid when over here probably 90 per cent in this room have it right now. No one is testing, no one is doing anything. It’s a shame she couldn’t really celebrate with us. At the same time, I think the right decision was made in terms of letting her play given we’ve spoken about protocols and making sure we were trying to keep everyone safe throughout the game. Hopefully people aren’t too upset by it.”
(News18 inputs)
