T20 World Cup: Hope turns to despair for India
CAPE TOWN: Harmanpreet Kaur was livid. She had just raced to a 30-ball fifty. India were 133/4 in 14.2 overs, chasing 173 in the semifinal of the 2023 T20 World Cup against Australia. When she walked into bat, India were 28/3. Shafali Verma was sent back, DRS returning an umpires call on a close LBW call. Next to go was Smriti Mandhana. Her arch nemesis, Ashleigh Gardner, accounted for her. Then, Yastika Bhatia was a victim of a horrendous misunderstanding also involving Jemimah Rodrigues. It seemed like Australia were all over India.
But Kaur, with Rodrigues, took the attack head-on. First ball she faced was driven to the cover boundary. Rodrigues stood and bludgeoned Ellyse Perry down the ground. Next over, Kaur brought her famous bat swing to the fore, hitting Jess Jonassen over the ropes. It seemed they were in a zone; they were not going to let the Australian bowling attack pile on. They were going to do what they could not in the final of the Commonwealth Games last year.
Over the next 41 balls, they smashed 69 runs, not sparing any one bowler. When they were forging their alliance, Australia, it seemed, were deflated. They were just going through the motions, waiting for the duo to slip up. It never seemed like happening at all. That they played just three dot balls in the 41 balls told the story. They just kept going, until it happened.
Rodrigues, on 43 off 24, tried to uppercut a bouncer from Darcie Brown but ended up edging it to Alyssa Healy behind the stumps. Her anger at the dismissal was visible, but India had hope. They had Richa Ghosh, who had gotten out only once up until this point. The skipper took charge from there and kept the chase going. Once again, India were back in the mix.
However, this is Australia. This is a team that has won five of the seven T20 World Cups, They have only lost twice since the last edition. All they need is an inch and the moment they have that, they get on top again. And the moment —- the one that made Kaur livid — came after 14.4 overs. Her bat got stuck near the crease at the striker’s end on her way back to complete a second run. Healy took off the bails and Kaur knew it. After a 34-ball 52, she was so frustrated that she swung her bat, it slipped out of her hand and flew 20 feet from her as she took a long walk back to the dressing room.
From a position of advantage, India had yet again let the momentum go. It was a familiar story over the next five overs as the defending champions built pressure on the Indian lower-order. The end result? The Women in Blue fell short by five runs, with Australia reaching yet another final of the T20 World Cup.
For India, it was the third heartbreak against Australia, in the last three years, including two T20 World Cups and the CWG. Unlike the 2020 final, the recent two had been much closer defeats. While that will hurt more, Kaur did not shy away from looking at the positives. The rise of Ghosh, Rodrigues or the way the team came together to take on what is easily one of the greatest women's sporting teams in the world are positives.The skipper was confident that they would take all the learnings and build on the promise.
Unwell captain leads from front
Just the day before the match, Kaur and some of her teammates were down with fever and had visited the hospital. However, she wanted to be there in the middle and wanted to do the job for the team. In fact, even her teammates did not know. “Till the team meeting, we didn’t even know she was ill,” said Rodrigues. “The coaches and obviously, Smriti (Mandhana) knew, but we had no idea. When I stepped out of my room, when I saw her carrying the kit bag, I was like yes! It is not easy, since the time she has come she has been falling sick, having injuries, she was going through mentally a lot and we knew that,” she added.
Brief scores: Australia 172/4 in 20 ovs (Mooney, 54, Lanning 49) bt India 167/8 in 20 ovs (Kaur 52, Rodrigues 43).