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Sanjay Manjrekar has noted that Harmanpreet Kaur proved her greatness with her fighting knock in India's 2024 Women's T20 World Cup loss to Australia. He also praised the Women in Blue for almost achieving a virtually impossible target against the all-conquering Aussie women.
Australia set India a 152-run target after opting to bat first in the Group A game in Sharjah on Sunday, October 13. Harmanpreet's unbeaten 54 off 47 deliveries went in vain as India managed 142 for nine in the chase and lost by nine runs.
Reviewing the game on Star Sports, Manjrekar was asked about the sight of Harmanpreet watching India fail to score the required runs in the last over from the non-striker's end.
"She got to face only two balls in the last over. If she had played the entire six balls, or five, the match might have been even closer. Yes, it's saddening that they lost, but I always look at cricket in terms of quality. The Indian team touched new heights today. This was a very important match," he responded.
"The pitch was very tricky, the score was almost like chasing 250, and they reached so close. It's a matter of great pride for me. The bowling was good. The batters kept scoring few, few runs without Mandhana's contribution, and Harmanpreet Kaur showed in the end why she is so great. She almost won the match," the former India batter added.
Manjrekar noted that the Indian team's true might was seen against Tahlia McGrath and company.
"If we see all the matches, India lost against New Zealand, but the most impressive performance in terms of quality, that what this Indian team is and the might they have was seen in this match because the match was alive almost till the last over," he said.
India needed 14 runs in the final over bowled by Annabel Sutherland. Harmanpreet took a single off the first ball and got to face only one more delivery in the over, with four batters getting dismissed at the other end, including two run-outs.
"The execution was not proper" - Sanjay Manjrekar on Shafali Verma's dismissal
In the same discussion, Sanjay Manjrekar opined that India's batters can't be faulted, citing the example of Shafali Verma erring in execution but not in strategy.
"I will not try to find any mistakes in the batting. The way Shafali Verma got out, she saw an off-spinner in Ashleigh Gardner, the game plan was correct, she wanted to play slightly square, so the execution was not proper. However, the Australian team is like the Mount Everest in women's cricket," he said.
The cricketer-turned-commentator added that Harmanpreet Kaur and company almost scaled Mount Everest by taking the game so close.
"They set an excellent score on the tough pitch in Sharjah. They set 150 where the average score is around 115. You saw New Zealand falling short by 60 runs while chasing 140. India almost won this match. So they reached close to Mount Everest, they reached the third or fourth base. It will take time but for me, it was an impressive performance from India," Manjrekar elaborated.
Apart from Harmanpreet, Deepti Sharma (29), Shafali (20), and Jemimah Rodrigues (16) were the Indian batters to reach double figures. Annabel Sutherland (2/22) and Sophie Molineux (2/32) were Australia's most successful bowlers, with the latter bagging the Player of the Match award for Smriti Mandhana and Deepti's dismissals.
