ICC Women's World Cup 2017: India will beat England in the final on Sunday, says Sourav Ganguly

It will be a tough task for the Indian team to beat England in the final

What's the story?

Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly has praised Harmanpreet Kaur for her innings against Australia in the semi-final and has predicted India to beat England in the final on July 23.

Talking to the Press Trust of India ahead of the final, Ganguly said “I saw Kaur's innings yesterday. She was superb against Australia in the semis. India will beat England in the final on Sunday.”

Extra cover: BCCI announce reward of 50 Lakhs for India women's team

In case you didn't know...

Harmanpreet Kaur's unbeaten 171 in the second semi-final against Australia has created a lot of buzz among the cricket fans as it was once in a lifetime performance by the Punjab all-rounder.

She came into a situation when India lost two early wickets and were struggling to post a total of 200 on the board. When Harmanpreet started her assault on the Aussie bowlers, things changed drastically as India posted 281 in their 42 overs. Harman was severe on every single Aussie bowler as he scored her runs off just 115 balls with the help of 20 fours and seven sixes.

The target was too much for the defending champions as they lost the match by 36 runs. Deepti Sharma was the pick of the Indian bowlers with three wickets while pacers Jhulan Goswami and Shikha Pandey settled for two wickets apiece.

Details

Indian women kicked off the 2017 ICC Women's World Cup with a huge win over the hosts England and went on to win their next three matches on the trot to make it four wins in four matches.

After a great start to the tournament, Mithali's side's progress in the tournament was stopped by South Africa and Australia as their last group game against New Zealand became a virtual knockout. Mithali, Harman and Veda Krishnamurthy brought their A game as India routed the White Ferns for a place in the semis against the Southern Stars from Australia.

Extra cover: Rajeev Shukla's congratulatory post for Indian Women's Cricket team goes wrong, Twitteratti doesn't spare him

Almost every single member of the team contributed to the team's success and they will look to do the same in the final.

What's next?

India take on hosts England in the final of the World Cup at the historic Lord's Cricket Ground on July 23 (tomorrow). This is the second time the Indian women have made it to the final of a World Cup, the first time being in 2005 under Mithali Raj.

Author's take

Sourav Ganguly was right to praise Harmanpreet for her knock in the semis. At the same time, it will be a tough task for the Indian team to beat England in the final as they have a lot of firepower in their line-up. The Indian team will need their star players to step up their game if they want to lift the title tomorrow.