‘Can’t be unluckier than this,’ India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur rues fate after run out in five-run loss to Australia in T20 World Cup SF

India captain Harmanpreet Kaur fell short of her crease mere inches. This, after her bat got stuck in the pitch as she tried to slide her way back in the crease, trying to complete a double in the 15th over of India’s chase against Australia in the 2023 Women’s T20 World Cup semifinal.
Coming in to bat at number five, Harmanpreet scored 52 off 34 deliveries, bailing India out from 28/3 early in the powerplay to 133/4 in the chase of 173 before she was run out. A moment that turned out to be pivotal as defending champions Australia went on to win the match five runs.

“Can’t be unluckier than this, to get that momentum back when me and Jemi (Jemimah Rodrigues) were batting,” Harmanpreet said post-match. “And to lose after that, we didn’t expect this today. The way I got runout, can’t be unluckier than that.”
Harmanpreet added that the plan for India was to take the game deep, even after losing three wickets early in the powerplay.
“Putting in the effort was more important. We discussed about fighting till the last ball. The result didn’t go our way, but I am happy with the way we played in this tournament. We know we have a good batting line up even if we lose early wickets.”

The skipper also praised the effort from India’s number three in the chase, Jemimah Rodrigues (43 off 24), who carved out a crucial 69 run stand alongside her to put India in position of promise on Thursday.
“Need to give credit to Jemi for the way she batted today. She got us the momentum we were looking for. Happy to see such performances. Happy to see them play their natural game.”
The 33-year-old also did a short post-mortem of India losing track of the game in the first innings, owing to poor fielding.
“We even though we didn’t play to our strengths, we reached the semis. We gave those easy catches away. Got to take those when you want to win. We misfielded. We can only learn from these lessons and not repeat the makes,” she said.
Earlier in the game, Australia went on to post 173/4 after winning the toss and opting to bat first. While opener Beth Mooney scored 54 off 37, captain Meg Lanning provided a big finish, scoring 49 off 34 deliveries.