T20 World Cup finale witnesses highest attendance for women's cricket match worldwide

The ICC Women's T20 World Cup final broke the world record attendance for a women's cricket match as it was witnessed by 86,714 people at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Sunday. The final also witnessed the highest attendance for a women's sporting event in Australia. The official handle of the ICC took to Twitter and shared an image of the grand stadium to thank the spectators for making International Women's Day 2020 "one to remember"

'The highest for a women's sporting event in Australia'
 

In the six previous editions of the tournament, the highest final crowd came in 2009 when 12,717 watched England beat New Zealand in Sydney. And seeing 73,000 more fans turn up in Melbourne for the same event 11 years later is a true indication to show how far the game has come.

'It was amazing to have all those people before us'

"I never thought I'd be playing in front of a crowd like this," said Australia's Ashleigh Gardner. "It was amazing to have all those people before us," she added. In the final, Australia displayed an all-round performance to defeat India by 85 runs to win its fifth Women's T20 World Cup title. Before this edition, Australia had won the tournament in 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2018.

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Chasing 185, India got off to the worst start possible as Shafali Verma (2) was sent back to the pavilion by number one ranked bowler in the world Megan Schutt on the third ball of the innings. The final nail in the coffin for India came in the sixth over of the innings as Harmanpreet (4) was sent back to the pavilion by Jess Jonassen, reducing the team to 30/4.

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Veda Krishnamurthy and Deepti Sharma tried to retrieve the innings as the duo put on 28 runs, but their vigil ended in the 12th over as Krishnamurthy (19) was dismissed by Delissa Kimmince. Taniya did not come out to bat due to concussion and Richa Ghosh came in place of her as concussion substitute. In the end, Australia did not give away many loose balls, and the hosts went away with a win by 85 runs to win their fifth T20 World Cup title.

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(With agency inputs)