Women’s T20 WC: Harmanpreet’s fifty in vain as Australia beat India to reach semis
Captain Harmanpreet Kaur's unbeaten 54* went in vain as Australia beat India by nine runs in Group A match to reach Women's T20 World Cup semi-finals on Sunday.
Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur smashed New Zealand bowlers all over the ground on Friday as the Women-in-Blue registered a comfortable 34 run-victory over Blackcaps in the opening match of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup.
During her majestic 103 runs innings, Harmanpreet Kaur hit eight sixes and seven boundaries. Speaking about her innings after the match, Kaur said, “Yesterday, I was having little bit back problem,” before adding, “In the morning, I was not feeling well, when I came to the ground I was feeling a little low and getting some cramps.”
The cramps were making it difficult for the Moga girl to run between the wickets, so she came up with a different plan.
Advertisement
“When initially I was running twos, I got a little cramp, after that the physio gave me medicine, and a little bit it settled down,” Kaur said.
“Then I thought instead of running too much, if I could I get more big shots because you run too much, you get more cramps. Then I told Jemi (Jemimah Rodrigues), ‘if you give the strike to me, I can go for more big shots’,” said Kaur.
Harmanpreet Kaur, who had given the same treatment to Australian bowlers in ODI World Cup 2017, also said she was not aware while batting that she had gone on to become first T20 centurion from India.
“I was not looking at how many runs I was getting, I was looking at how many we needed to win the game,” Kaur said, adding, “We knew they have really good batters, they have Sophie Devine and [Suzie] Bates, we knew if we scored just 150, we may not (win the game).”
Talking about the pitch, the 29-year-old said it was a good batting track.”I knew it was a good batting track, if I settle down, I can get the runs, that’s what I was thinking.”
Advertisement
