We were expecting Australia to set a target around 380 in WC semifinal: Amanjot

Navi Mumbai, Oct 31 (PTI) India were expecting a target around 380 against Australia but Phoebe Litchfield's dismissal followed by a "very good spell" from spinner Shree Charani turned the Women's ODI World Cup semifinal in the hosts' favour, said all-rounder Amanjot Kaur.

Amanjot hit the winning runs as India chased down 339 for a world record in women's ODIs to make the final of the World Cup, riding on Jemimah Rodrigues' stunning 127 not out.

Australia were cruising at a brisk rate when Lichfield (119 off 93 balls) was dismissed by Amanjot in the 28th over with 180 on board. The defending champions, who were aiming for a huge total, eventually finished at 338. "I was trying to contain as much as possible, and Lichfield is a very aggressive better, and I knew that with a few balls she would try to do something different. It was just a basic plan of bowling at the stumps," Amanjot told the media after India's five-wicket win on Thursday night here.

The turnaround was also marked by a brilliant third spell from Charani, who returned with figures of 3-0-9-2 while accounting for Beth Mooney (24) and Annabel Sutherland (3).

"We were expecting a target around 380 because the wicket was very good. But with the dismissal of Litchfield, the game moved in our favour and from there and we did not leak a lot of runs and Charani bowled a very good spell according to the wicket," Amanjot said.

Amanjot said she and Jemimah wanted to finish the game with one over remaining.

"She (Jemimah) was (at the crease in) in the second over and it is a huge thing to stay till the end in this heat and humidity. She did not give up, she kept on fighting and she needed someone to be there with her," Amanjot said.

"I asked her if I should charge against the bowlers. She said because we run between the wickets well, we will be able to see it through. She asked me to have a look at the wicket and when I faced the first delivery, I thought what a beautiful track it was. Then we decided to finish it off with one over remaining," she added.

Amanjot said beating Australia gave her a different joy.

"It was very important because it is such a big tournament, and a few matches had not gone our way and it is of course a different feeling to beat Australia," she said.

"… (and) who doesn't want to win the World Cup? Harmanpreet (Kaur) wants it, Smriti (Mandhana) wants it. The whole of India wants it, and we will give everything (to win it).

"There will be a different champion this time as both the teams (India and South Africa) haven't won the trophy. Our mindset as a team is to help each other, back each other. We do not think much about the result." India all-rounder Deepti Sharma said the team treated the contest against Australia like any other match and welcomed the idea that there will be a new winner of this time around.

"We are not in that zone where we would think that it was semifinal, but it was just another match against Australia," Deepti said. PTI DDV SSC SSC