We were all happy to play: Megan Schutt on McGrath's participation in the final

McGrath was allowed to play despite testing positive for Covid-19

Meg-Lanning's Australia held their nerve to beat India by a narrow margin of nine runs in a thriller on Sunday, winning the first women's cricket gold medal in the Commonwealth Games history.

While the Australian women's team delivered a clinical performance to clinch the gold, the inclusion of all-rounder Tahlia McGrath in the playing eleven sparked a debate as she had tested positive for COVID-19.

The International Cricket Council allowed McGrath to play as she had "mild symptoms" ahead of the final clash.

McGrath’s inclusion surprised everyone around the globe as it was a rare opportunity for a COVID-19 positive player to take part in a game.

Speaking after the game on the controversial inclusion of McGrath, her teammate and fast bowler Megan Schutt said everyone in the team was happy to see McGrath play the all-important game.

She also revealed that the positive result for COVID-19 came as a shocker to McGrath.

"We were all happy to play, she was happy to play. She feels absolutely fine so I think the positive result was a bit of a shock to her, but that’s Covid isn’t it we’re all going to live through it. We didn’t want to get in trouble, we felt bad for Tahlia at the end there. Obviously, when you’re part of a game that’s so thrilling like that, that’s all you want to do [is celebrate] and at the end screw it, if we get Covid, so be it," Megan Schutt said as quoted by The Guardian.

McGrath barely had any impact

However, McGrath couldn't create any sort of impact with the bat or ball. She batted at number four without wearing a mask for Australia but her innings was cut short for just 2 runs as she was sent back after Radha Yadav took a phenomenal catch off the bowling of Deepti Sharma. With the ball, she went for 24 runs in her two overs.     

Also Read: Harmanpreet Kaur reacts to Tahlia McGrath playing in the CWG 2022 final