India lost to Australia in the Women’s T20 World Cup 2023 semifinal match by a heartbreaking margin of five runs (February 23). India’s World Cup run came to an end, along with any prospects of winning the inaugural T20 tournament. Yet they managed to draw the game out to the very last over with an amazing effort. At Newlands, Harmanpreet Kaur played a captain’s knock, but it was insufficient for the Ladies in Blue.
In the post-match presentation, Harmanpreet became upset and covered her emotions behind spectacles, saying she did not want her country to see her cry. The team will progress and won’t let the nation down once more, the Indian skipper continued. “I don’t want my country to see my crying, hence I am wearing these glasses, I promise, we will improve and wont let out nation down like this again,” Harmanpreet said after the match.
Australia scored a substantial total of 172/4 when batting first, outscoring the ineffective Indian bowlers. With yet another superb fifty, Beth Mooney continued to terrorise India, while skipper Meg Lanning hit a critical unbeaten 49. With only 15 runs on the board, India lost both of its openers, Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma, but Harmanpreet and Jemimah Rodrigues managed a 69-run fourth-wicket stand to keep India in the game.
Harmanpreet scored 52 runs off just 34 deliveries to give the Indian squad some breathing room. She did, however, mysteriously lose her wicket in the 15th over when, as she was about to complete a run, her bat became trapped in the ground. Her departure proved to be a pivotal moment, and as she walked into the pavilion, she showed her annoyance.
“Can’t feel unluckier than this. We got the momentum back with Jemi. To lose from here, we weren’t expecting this. (Tears – why?) The way I got run out, can’t be unluckier than that. Putting the effort was important and we were happy to go to the last ball. We wanted to fight till the last ball. Today we wanted to chase too, so that was fine when they chose to bat. Even after losing first two wickets, we knew we had a good batting line-up,” Harmanpreet said.