Indian women’s cricket team captain Harmanpreet Kaur was disappointed after suffering a narrow 50-run loss to defending champions Australia in the first semifinal of the 2023 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup at Newlands Cricket Ground on Thursday.
Harmanpreet said that India and she could not have been unluckier in the match as she was run out after her bat got stuck in the ground.
“Can’t be unluckier than this, to get that momentum back when me and Jemi were batting. And to lose after that, we didn’t expect this today," Harmanpreet said at the post-match presentation.
“The way I got runout, can’t be unluckier than that," she added.
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She had made a crucial 52 runs from 34 balls, including six fours and one six.
Harmanpreet though lauded the team’s effort and fighting spirit, saying: “Putting in the effort was more important. We discussed about fighting till the last ball. The result didn’t go our way, but I am happy with the way we played in this tournament."
“We know we have a good batting line up even if we lose early wickets," she added.
Harmanpreet h=also had praise for Jimimah Rodrigues, who scored 43 runs from just 24 ball, including six fours.
“Need to give credit to Jemi for the way she batted today. She got us the momentum we were looking for. Happy to see such performances. Happy to see them play their natural game. We even though we didn’t play to our strengths, we reached the semis," Harmanpreet said.
That's that from our semi-final game.Australia win by 5 runs.
— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) February 23, 2023
Harmanpreet was not happy though about India’s fielding during the Australian innings, dropping multiple catches as the Aussies capitalised on the second chances to pile on the runs.
“We gave those easy catches away. Got to take those when you want to win. We misfielded. We can only learn from these lessons and not repeat the mistakes," Harmanpreet said.
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Set 173 to win, India saw skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (52) and Jemimah Rodrigues (43) give them a sight of victory before falling just short at Newlands.
Australia, for whom Beth Mooney hit 54 and skipper Meg Lanning made an undefeated 49, will face either England or South Africa in Sunday’s final.
(With inputs from Agencies)
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