The Indian team lost in the semi-finals of the T20 World cup 2023 in South Africa against Australia by 5 runs, and with this defeat, the journey of the Indian ended. Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur played the match despite being ill. The right-handed batter took the Australian bowlers to task and put India in a great position. But she was unfortunately run out and the Indian team lost to Australia by 5 runs in a close match.
Team India was moving towards comfortable victory in this match at one time, but the runout of captain Harmanpreet Kaur (52 runs) turned the match upside down. In the 15th over of the Indian innings, Harmanpreet was run out in an attempt to take the second run. While taking the second run, the bat got stuck, so she could not reach the crease. Speaking on this the former English skipper Nasser Hussain called it a “schoolgirl error” made by the skipper.
The Indian skipper was asked about this remark in the post-match presentation. She replied that she didn’t know what Nasser was thinking and I had seen it sometimes happens. She accepted that her team made mistakes in every area and added they will be back strongly.
“Nasser said that? Surprisingly? Okay. I don’t know, that’s his way of thinking, but sometimes it happens. I have seen many times in cricket when batters take a single like that,and the bat gets stuck there. Obviously, I will take it as we were unlucky today. Some things we still have to improve to go to the finals. Definitely, we didn’t field well, we didn’t bowl well in patches and we didn’t bat well. You have to do well in all the departments, then only you can go to the finals.” Indian skipper replied.
After, she added that she didn’t think it was a schoolgirl mistake. She knows how to play cricket but doesn’t know how Nasser thinks.
“I think it was unlucky, but I don’t think it was a mistake by a schoolgirl. We are mature enough, we are playing international cricket, and whatever he said, that’s his way of thinking. I don’t think it was like that,” she further added.
The Australian team won the match. Ashley Gardner was awarded as the “player of the match” for taking two wickets and also scored 31 runs off 18 balls.
