So near, yet so far! That is how Indian fans would describe the performance of Indian women in the final summit against Australia on Sunday. The occasion was the Commonwealth Games clash held in Birmingham. The Indian women, after dominating most part of the run chase, fell like a pack of cards. They bundled out for 153 runs, losing to the world champions by 8 runs.
It was a sense of deja vu for the women in blue yet again. The team faced a similar situation in the 2017 Women’s World Cup final in England. In that match, India was cruising towards a stunning win but England pulled it back by picking up crucial wickets, clinching an unlikely win and title.
Indian women’s team captain, Harmanpreet Kaur admitted that the team is repeating the same mistakes again and again. “Every time in big finals, we make the same mistakes with the bat. That is something we have to improve. We don’t do these mistakes in the league phase or in bilateral,” the Indian skipper said. Harmanpreet added that she is looking for one more batter in the playing eleven. “Once we get an extra batter, this thing [collapsing] will go away,” she added.
India looked all set to pull off a stunning win, thanks to Jemimah Rodrigues and skipper Harmanpreet Kaur. The duo stitched a 96-run partnership off just 77 balls. However, it was not India’s day as they lost the remaining eight wickets for just 34 runs. The team sat in the dugout with disappointing faces yet again.
Meanwhile, the Australian captain Meg Lanning exuded confidence that India would soon dominate the sport across formats. “As a team, we are on the right track, we just need to keep working hard. As Lanning said, we’re not far from dominating across formats. We are improving as a team. The time is not far when we will start winning back-to-back tournaments,” Harman concluded.
