The Indian women’s cricket team had a narrow escape from defeat against Pakistan during the T20 World Cup encounter that took place in Dubai, UAE. India was set a target of 106 runs, with opener Shafali Verma being the highest scorer with 32 runs as India won the match with 6 wickets to spare. There was a minor hiccup for the Indian team in the process of achieving the target when Fatima Sana, the captain of Pakistan, struck twice in as many balls to put a dent in the chase. Still, Harmanpreet Kaur, after retiring hurt at 29, ensured that the target was achieved with seven balls to spare.
Amidst all this, it was a bit of a surprise when Harmanpreet Kaur was not sent to bat at nadir no. 3 after Rodrigues had played at that position earlier. However, former Indian player Anjum Chopra was very baffled with the fact that Harmanpreet had been shifted lower down the batting order for this particular match.
This left her distraught in a way, with Anjum saying that the team should not have deviated from the strategy which the head coach Amol Muzumdar had so bravely assured spoke about before the tournament began.
“Very surprised that the captain (Harmanpreet) has not walked in at No. 3 in a much more crucial game than any in this World Cup. Especially, because India was very clear about their batting order. Harmanpreet walked in at No. 3 against New Zealand. The coach was clear that their No. 3 was unleashed in the very game and none better than her to walk in at No. 3 ahead of the tall batting line-up that India boasts off, to walk in and take command, rather than wait and wait and wait for the situation to change and unleash her strokes,” Anjum was heard as saying on-air.
In other news, Harmanpreet faced a major blow in her T20 World Cup when she injured herself in the match played against Pakistan.
The incident took place when Harmanpreet was facing the opposition’s bowlers, causing her to exit the play with tears in her eyes. She was retired hurt after scoring 29 runs from 24 balls. She did not lose her cool and scored a captain’s innings to pull India back into the game.
