There was one question on everyone’s lips before Thursday’s T20 World Cup semi-final: would Harmanpreet Kaur be playing? India’s captain might have enjoyed a quiet tournament to date (with scores of 16, 33, 4 and 13 in the group stages), but sometimes a player is a talisman. When you’re playing Australia, you need one of those.
This is the player who the last time these two sides met in a World Cup semi-final pummelled an unbeaten 171 while nursing a broken finger. This time, she had been suffering from a fever and was taken to hospital for a check-up just hours before the match. But Harmanpreet being Harmanpreet, she shrugged it all off at the toss: “I was unwell but I am fine now.”
Could she bring about a miracle once again? For a while, even with India chasing an intimidating 173, and even with them already 28 for three when she arrived at the crease, Harmanpreet managed it. It’s not often that Meg Lanning’s Australia look under pressure; but with Harmanpreet and Jemimah Rodrigues (43 off 24) smashing Ellyse Perry and Jess Jonassen for bags of runs, they felt it. Lanning messed up a straightforward run out with a wayward throw to the wrong end; Alyssa Healy put Harmanpreet down behind the stumps; Tahlia McGrath overstepped. All small miracles in themselves.
It couldn’t last. Harmanpreet slammed back-to-back fours off Georgia Wareham to bring up a 32-ball half-century, but two balls later – with the equation down to 40 runs needed off 32 balls – she had to make a mad dash for her ground, only to get her bat stuck in the turf. You could almost forgive the way she threw it away from her in frustration before walking off. “It was disappointment,” she explained afterwards. “The way I was batting, we had a real chance. The moment I got out, the momentum shifted from India to Australia.”
Even with Rodrigues already back in the dug-out, having top-edged a Brown bouncer behind the stumps, it wasn’t quite over – Richa Ghosh (14), Deepti Sharma (20 not out) and Sneh Rana (11 off 10) threw their bats around. But with 20 needed off the final two, and Jonassen and Ash Gardner somehow keeping it tight at the death, India fell an agonising six runs short. So near and yet so far.
“We had no right to win it,” Gardner admitted afterwards. “They were cruising, and then we found a way to get some wickets. We scrapped. We fought hard right to the end. When our backs are up against the wall we always try and find a way.”
And yet this time India really had only themselves to blame. Beth Mooney’s 54 from 37 and Lanning’s unbeaten 49 not out had been the key hands in Australia’s 172 for four, but Lanning was put down by Ghosh on one after edging Rana behind the stumps; and was then handed another life on nine, as Ghosh fumbled a stumping attempt.
Meanwhile Shafali Verma shelled a regulation chance at long-on which would have sent Mooney back to the dug-out on 32; instead, she had to watch it trickle behind her over the rope. Harmanpreet had to leave the field temporarily during Australia’s innings, apparently fighting dehydration – a decent metaphor for her side’s fielding effort.
The contrast with Australia’s own efforts in the field was stark – epitomised by an incredible dive from Perry at deep backward square to prevent a sure boundary off the bat of Rana in the penultimate over. “We always speak about being the best fielding team in the world, and today really showed that,” Gardner said. “Ellyse Perry was elite on the boundary, she probably saved six runs herself. We took those pivotal moments when we really needed to and Pez was the blueprint for our side going forward.”
Another key to Australia’s dominance was the nullification of Renuka Singh Thakur – so threatening against them in the Commonwealth Games. Yet at Newlands on Thursday Healy (25 off 26) sent the first ball of Renuka’s first over crashing through the off-side for four, then lofted her down the ground in her next.
Renuka came back to bowl the final over, after Gardner (31 off 18) and Grace Harris were bowled in the 18th and 19th, trying for a Big Finish. So Lanning took the Big Finish for herself – hammering Renuka for two enormous sixes over deep backward square. The seamer finished with 0 for 41 – the most expensive of the Indian bowlers.
“We made some mistakes. We have to learn from them,” was Harmanpreet’s verdict. Meanwhile Australia progress to Sunday’s final – and the chance to win a third consecutive T20 world title.
