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.
Leg-spinner Poonam Yadav, who has been the highest wicket-taker of the ongoing ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020, has heaped praises on her skipper Harmanpreet Kaur for being a constant support to her.
Talking about an incident during India’s opening match of the tournament against Australia, she revealed that Harmanpreet’s inspiring words after she got hit for a six helped her take the tournament by storm.
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“Harmanpreet has been of immense support. When I got hit for a six in the first over, she came to me and said, ‘Poonam, you’re one of the most experienced players in the team, and we expect better of you’,” Poonam said as quoted by IANS.
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“So, that kind of stirred something within me. I told myself if my captain has that much faith in me, I should be able to make a comeback. I took a wicket in the very next ball and didn’t look back since. Now when I look back at that moment, it means so much in the context of my individual performance and runs to the final,” she added.
Right after she was hit for a six, Poonam had gotten Australia’s Alyssa Healy out in the very next delivery and began her onslaught in the tournament which eventually fetched her four wickets in the match and a total of nine wickets in the tournament.
The 28-year-old has a fine record at the Women’s t20 World Cup, taking eight wickets in five matches in 2014 and repeating the trick in 2018. The Agra-born ace, India’s highest-ever wicket-taker in the format, was ruled out of her side’s pre-tournament tri-series with final opponents Australia due to injury but has made a strong comeback ever since.
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