Sharjah: India captain Harmanpreet Kaur was left to rue what might have been after a narrow loss to Australia left her team facing the prospect of a group-stage exit at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup.
Kaur threw everything at Australia on Sunday here and it still wasn’t enough.
The India captain brought her team back from a position where the Group A fixture had looked over as a contest, scoring a brilliant unbeaten half century and setting up a nail-biting final over.
But it wasn’t to be, as Annabel Sutherland sealed Australia’s win to leave India’s fate out of their own hand in the tournament
Kaur said that the depth of Australia’s quality won out on the day, an ICC report said.
“I think their entire team contributes, they’re not dependent on one or two players,” Kaur said.
“They know that they have so many all-rounders, they have batters who can take charge in the powerplay, and later on they don’t have anything fixed, they can always adjust according to pitch and situation,” she said.
Kaur also pinpointed two additional factors as to why her magnificent effort wasn’t enough. Firstly, that her partnership with Deepti Sharma that brought India back into the game didn’t keep the scoring rate high enough in the middle overs. And secondly that Australia’s winning experience proved vital in the game’s crunch moments.
“We knew this was going to be a difficult tournament,” Kaur said. “The only thing is, when Deepti and I were batting, that time we were not able to utilise a few loose balls. We could have controlled the boundaries. I think we were still in the game.”
“But then again, as we know with their experience, they know how to win games like that. We have to learn from them,” she said.
India now require a big helping hand from Pakistan if they are to reach the semi-finals of the tournament. Only a win for Pakistan over New Zealand on Monday will see India seal a top two finish in the group stage, but even then NRR could deny India a knockout spot.
“Whatever was in our hands, we were trying to do that,” Kaur said, after her team came back into group contention following an opening-match loss to the White Ferns.
“But this is something which is not in our control. If we get the opportunity to play another game, that will be great. But otherwise, whoever deserves to be there, that team will be there,” she added.
