Harmanpreet Kaur Casual: Team India were narrowly defeated by Australia in the round of five in Friday’s women’s T20 World Cup semi-final. Poor India fielding and catching after Meg Lanning picked to bat, allowed Australia to post a challenging 172 for four.
In the run chase, India struggled once with her 28/3 but Harmanpreet Kaur (52/34) and Jemimah Rodrigues (43/24) fought back for 69 runs on just 41 balls to put the team back in the game. India needed her to take five wickets in 39 of the last 30 balls but, as in the past, the team fell short with 167 of 8 balls.
After the match, the Indian team received support from fans and former cricketers in their tough battle against the world’s No. 2. Since the start of the Women’s T20 World Cup, every edition has one team advancing to the final.
However, India’s former captain Diana Edulji was less than impressed with her team’s semi-final match and expressed her anger at the players. She also criticized Shafali Verma and Jemimah Rodrigues for their choice of shots.
Harmanpreet Kaur’s Run-out
Harmanpreet Kaur bat caught on the ground when coming back for the second run in the 15th over. Alyssa Healy quickly released the ball to the bails with the Indian captain just before the crease.
“She thinks her bat is stuck, but when she sees her second run, she’s jogging. Why are you running relaxed when the wicket is so important?”
“You have to play professional cricket to win. Check out the dive Perry made to save two runs. That’s professionalism,” Edulji told PTI.
Harmanpreet’s run-out was the game’s biggest turning point. India’s lower middle line collapsed under pressure after Harman went against the tide of the game. Edulji remembered advice from the legendary Sunil Gavaskar to criticize Harmanpreet’s leaks.
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Sunil Gavaskar’s advice
“They don’t give up until the end and we’re just not ready to fight. We can’t always fall at the last hurdle. She was casual on her second run. In the 1970s, Sunil Gavaskar told me that in order to ground a bat, I had to learn each ball and then get used to it.”
“Your bat was in the wrong hand (left). If you had it in your right hand, you could have stretched and finished the race,” he said. For her part, Harmanpreet expressed her disappointment at being so out of control.
“It was a shame because it was my only chance to find out how to get out,” she said.
“Otherwise, I know how to make it through this inning with the way I hit the ball. But in cricket sometimes it happens and you have to accept whatever happens. But other than that I am happy to have played cricket in this tournament. I saw a really good performance like Richa,” she told reporters after the game.
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