New Delhi, India

Harmanpreet Kaur-led India women's cricket team faced Meg Lanning-led Australia in the gold medal face-off at the Commonwealth Games (CWG) 2022 edition on Sunday (August 07) in Edgbaston, Birmingham. In a marquee clash, the match went down to the wire before Australia completed a nine-run win to clinch their maiden gold medal at the event whereas the T20 World Cup runners-up settled for silver.

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In a match that saw the momentum being shifted from one side to the other, Harmanpreet & Co. were asked to chase down a stiff 162 after Renuka Singh and Sneh Rana's two-fers each restricted the Women in Yellow to 161/8 in 20 overs. As India were reduced to 22-2 before Harmanpreet's 43-ball 65 and Jemimah Rodrigues' run-a-ball 33 brought the chasing side back into the contest, they eventually fell short by nine runs -- being dismissed for 152 in 19.3 overs.

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During India's run-chase, Yastika Bhatia was involved in a hilarious incident. The left-hander wasn't part of the playing XI and came in as a concussion replacement of wicketkeeper-batter Taniya Bhatia, who was struck on the back of her head while keeping as the ball ricocheted off her gloves during India's bowling. Thus, Yastika filled in for her but tripped over the advertising board when she was coming out to bat during the end overs of India's run-chase. Here's the video, where the likes of Smriti Mandhana, captain Harmanpreet, Shafali Verma, etc. couldn't control themselves and were in splits seeing Yastika fall down:

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Yastika was the last wicket to fall in the encounter as she only managed a 5-ball 2 as Ashleigh Gardner's 3 for 16 and Beth Mooney's 61 led the Aussies to a gold medal win. 

At the post-match presentation, Harmanpreet said, "Every time in big finals, we make the same mistakes again and again [with the bat], that is something we have to improve. We don't do these mistakes in the league phase or in bilateral. That is blocking our mind somewhere. I am someone who is always looking for one more batter in the side. Unfortunately, we're working on that. Once we get that, this thing [collapsing] will go away."