Women’s T20 WC: Harmanpreet reus getting out at wrong time, says had she stayed till end India would have won

The Indian women’s cricket team suffered a heart-breaking defeat at the hands of Australia in the semis of the ongoing Women’s T20 World Cup in South Africa on Thursday. Captain Harmanpreet Kaur made inroads with a brilliant half-century after the Indian team was reduced to three for 28 at one stage in their chase of 173.However, with Kaur getting run-out at the wrong time, it costed India the chance of making it to the finals as they lost the match by just five runs. Speaking to the media after the match, Harman said had she stayed till the end, India would have crossed the line even with an over to spare.

Given the momentum was clearly on India’s side after Harmanpreet Kaur and Jemimah Rodrigues stitched a stunning partnership, the women’s team looked like breaking Australia’s longstanding streak of reaching the finals of T20 World Cups. But as destiny had its way, Harman’s bat got stuck and she got run out in the 15th over, resulting in break in India’s momentum.

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Following her wicket, Richa Gosh and Deepti Sharma did playsome attacking cricket, but it wasn’t enough in the end.

"If my bat didn't get stuck, that run would have easily happened. If I had stayed till the last moment, the game would have finished an over before given the momentum we had. But even after that, Deepti Sharma was there, Richa Ghosh was there. I had belief that they could get the job done. If you have seen the matches till now, Richa had batted brilliantly. But after my dismissal, there were seven or eight dot balls and that was the turning point of the match. Otherwise, we had good momentum and things were going well," Harmanpreet Kaur said during the post-match presser.

Earlier, Australia elected to bat first after winning the toss and began brilliantly. With contributions from the top three, including a fifty from opener Beth Mooney and a well-made 49 from captain Meg Lanning, Australia posted a healthy total of 172 for four in 20 overs. Whereas, India lost both their openers Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma early inside Powerplay onlybefore Jemimah and Harman played the rescue act.

Now, with India bowing out of the tournament, Australia will face the winner of England and South Africa in the finals of the Women’s T20 World Cup.