The Aussies strangled the Indians in the middle overs as Harmanpreet Kaur watched each of the top-order batters being sent packing. She, too, struggled to manoeuvre the ball through the gaps during this phase but managed to anchor one end and take the chase deep. The India captain eventually found support from Deepti Sharma as the pair reignited hopes, during which Harmanpreet even notched up a fifty, but all ended on familiar lines for the 35-year-old.
Shafali Verma kicked off India chase of 152 on a dangerous note, before Ash Gardner snuffed her out and the rest of the top-order struggled for boundaries against the slower deliveries from the Australia attack in the Women’s T20 World Cup clash in Sharjah on Sunday.
Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues succumbed to the pressure of dot balls during the middle overs, but Harmanpreet, who too was scoring at a run-a-ball rate, managed to find boundaries during her fifty-run stand with Deepti.
However, just when things started to look settled, the left-hander departed and the rest of the line-up crumbled in quick time, leaving Harmanpreet as India’s only hope. She did smash Gardner for consecutive fours in the 18th over and then got one against Sophie Molineux in the penultimate over to reduce the equation to 14 off six, but when India need her the most, she erred in her strategy which denied her being in strike for the majority of the final over, where the 2020 runners-up managed just four more runs for the loss of three wickets as India were restricted to 142 for nine.
Harmanpreet’s act during the loss against Australia reminded many of former India men’s team captain MS Dhoni’s knock during the 2019 World Cup semifinal against New Zealand. The latter took the chase deep amid a sluggish effort before being run out by Martin Guptill, which ended India’s hopes.
However, ardent Dhoni supporters denied finding any resemblance, and jumped to his defence, thus sparking an epic fan war on social media.
Harmanpreet Kaur on the difference between two sides
The India captain reckoned that the presence of more all-rounders in the Australia line-up made the difference for the defending champions in the contest.
“I think their entire team contribute, they don’t depend on one or two players, they have a lot of all-rounders who contribute. We also planned well and we were there in the game. They didn’t gave away easy runs and made it difficult. They are an experienced side,” she said in the post-match presentation.
