On Friday, Team India lost to Australia by five runs in the semi-final of the Women’s T20 World Cup due to poor fielding and catching, allowing Australia to set a challenging 172 for four. Although Harmanpreet Kaur (52 off 34) and Jemimah Rodrigues (43 off 24) produced a counter-attacking 69-run stand, India was unable to chase down the target, finishing at 167 for eight.
Indian team praised for fighting spirit, but ex-captain Diana Edulji critical of players’ performance in Women’s T20 World Cup semi-final, singling out Harmanpreet Kaur’s run-out and Shafali Verma and Jemimah Rodrigues’ shot selection.
Harmanpreet’s bat got stuck in the ground while coming back for the second run in the 15th over, and Alyssa Healy was quick to take the bails off with the Indian captain short of the crease.
“She is thinking the bat got stuck but if you see the second run she was jogging. Why are you running in a relaxed manner when you know when your wicket is so important? You have to play professional cricket to win. Look at the dive Perry made to save those two runs. That is what professionalism is,” Edulji told PTI.
Harmanpreet’s run-out was the biggest turning point of the match. The Indian lower-middle order crumbled under pressure after Harman’s run-out against the run of play.
Edulji recalled an advice from the legendary Sunil Gavaskar to criticise Harmanpreet for the run-out.
“They don’t give up till the end and we are not ready to fight at all. You can’t be falling at the last hurdle all the time.
“She was casual on the second run. She thought she would comfortably reach. We were told in the 1970s by Mr. Sunil Gavaskar that every ball you have to learn to ground your bat then only you get into that habit.
“Her bat was in the wrong hand (left). If she held it in the right hand, she would have been able to stretch herself and complete the run,” she further said.
Harmanpreet, for her part, expressed her disappointment for getting run-out like that.
“It was a disappointment because the way I was batting, maybe that was the only chance to know how I can get out. Otherwise, the way I was meeting the ball, I know how to take this inning till the end. But sometimes it happens in cricket and we have to accept whatever happens. But otherwise, I am happy the way we played cricket throughout this tournament. We saw some really good performances like Richa did,” she told reporters after the match.
