India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur said it was heartbroken for the side after the gold medal was slipped out of their hands and the “mental block” has to be broken, going forward while The Indian team came to close winning sought-after gold in women’s cricket’s CWG debut.
India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur said it was heartbroken for the side after the gold medal was slipped out of their hands and the “mental block” has to be broken, going forward.
The Indian team came to close winning sought-after gold in women’s cricket’s CWG debut however, missed the mark by nine runs after being in a dominant position against Australia.
It was a sensation that this has happened before for Harmanpreet and Co. who had experienced a comparative strange batting breakdown during the T20 World Cup finals defeat against Australia in 2020 and the 2017 ODI World Cup final in England.
“Every time in big finals, we make the same mistakes again and again (with the bat), that is something we have to improve,”
Harmanpreet said after the match on Sunday.
“We don’t do these mistakes in the league phase or in bilateral. That is blocking our mind somewhere,”
the skipper added.
With 50 required off the last six overs with eight wickets in hands, India appeared to be on course to a title win but lost the last five wickets for 13 runs attributable to a few unfortunate shot selections.
“I am someone who is always looking for one more batter in the side. Unfortunately, we’re working on that. Once we get that, this thing [collapsing] will go away.”
“After losing two crucial wickets, the way Jemi (Jemimah Rodrigues) and I batted was much needed at that time. You need to hold your nerves. We were nearly there.”
“Maybe if Pooja (Vastrakar) or I were around, we could’ve won the game. But that is part of the game; sometimes some things you can’t control. It is great learning for us,”
she added.
Even though India finished on the losing side in the summit clash, Harmanpreet is “happy and satisfied” with her team’s CWG campaign.
“I know we were close to winning gold, but all around our performance was great. This is the first time we got to play in this tournament and we’re happy to have won a silver medal.
“A medal is something people back home will get inspired from and they could start playing cricket. As a team, we want to inspire young girls. Doing well on this platform will motivate a lot of people back home.”
All-rounder Tahlia McGrath was a part of the Australian playing XI despite testing positive for COVID-19.
“They informed us before the toss. That was something not in our control. The CWG had to take a decision and we were okay with it since she wasn’t very ill, so we decided to play. We had to show sportsman spirit.
“I’m happy we didn’t say no to Tahlia, it (missing the final) would’ve even been very hard-hitting for her.”
“If you want to beat this Australian team, you have to field well. If you give them easy runs, they can easily take the game away. We discussed it in the team meeting and Radha (Yadav) set the example for us.
“The effort we put up today is something we wanted to do. I know the last 2-3 overs [in the chase] were not in our favor but throughout the game, the way we played was outstanding to watch.”
“We’ve been working on our fielding for a long time. I’m happy with the way we fielded today. That is something we wanted to do as a team,”
Harmanpreet said.