Express News Service
CHENNAI: Deepti Sharma was in the middle of a huddle with Mithali Raj, Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana. If Jhulan Goswami was playing, she’d have been there too. The off-spinner is about to bowl the most important over yet for India in this World Cup.
She had seven runs to defend against South Africa’s Mignon du Preez and Trsiha Chetty. Win and progress to the semifinals, lose and get knocked out of the event. The stakes couldn’t have been higher.
Five years ago, Deepti, then 19, was in a similar position at Lord’s. Batting at No 7, she had to see through a chase where India needed 11 runs from two overs with two wickets in hand. She panicked, played an ugly hoick and watched her team lose the World Cup by nine runs.
But, Sunday was different. Coming back after being left out for the last couple of games, she had sent down nine overs on the day for just 34 runs. She was as calm as anyone could have been. If there were any nerves, it didn’t show.
As Deepti bowled tight, stump-to-stump lines, every ball was an event. There were four singles and a run out in the first four deliveries.With three runs needed of two, Deepti sent down a full delivery at pace, which du Preez, who was batting on 50, couldn’t get under and holed out Harmanpreet at long-on.
The Indian vice-captain let out a roar that resonated with every household in India who were watching the match. They had sealed all but sealed the match. Except, that there was more to that, as it turned out to be a no-ball.
Du Preez was back and two needed from two with a free hit. But there was still hope of taking it to the super over. Off the last ball, du Preez casually flicked Deepti into the gap to take South Africa home. India’s World Cup dreams had come to an agonising end.
But, was this contest supposed to come as close as it did? It all could have been over when Laura Wolavaardt and Lara Goodall were running away with the chase, or when Mandhana dropped du Preez, or when Marizanne Kapp was milking the spinners around with ease, or when Chloe Tryon hit three fours off Rajeshwari Gayakwad’s over.
Everytime, it seemed like the game was slipping away, someone or the other created a magic for india. Whether its Harmanpreet dismissing Wolvaardt and Sune Luus and running out Lizelle Lee and Kapp, or Gayakwad deceiving Tryon and completing a return catch or Mandhana diving on the ropes to stop a boundary in the penultimate over, they kept fighting back till the last moment.
Even with the bat, the way Shafali Verma took the best pace attack in the world, and how Mandhana, Harmanpreet and Mithali took it from there, it was one of their best batting performances by far, despite falling short in the death overs.
A benumbed Mithali spoke on similar lines after the match. “The way we made a comeback, even in today’s game the way the girls have responded, whether it is bowling or batting, I think they’ve done really well…. But overall, I think we could have done better,” she said.
In hindsight, the easier and straightforward reasoning on Sunday’s result would be that they fell short by 30 runs. But sport is seldom simple, especially cricket. It is more about the small margins, fighting with what’s in hand at any given situation, and holding their nerves better under pressure. And India did that better for most part of the game on Sunday.
Perhaps, that is what will go down as the legacy of this team, especially Mithali and Jhulan. Reaching for the sky and giving everything for it on the field to the best of their capabilities, despite the barriers, and falling short by inches in the end.
The veteran duo started their careers when women’s cricket was yet to be taken over by the BCCI, and have remained the shoulders on which the sport grew in the country over two decades.They reached two World Cup finals, broke every record along the way, and could be deemed as all-time greats not just in Indian cricket, but across the globe.
That how Mithali said they wanted to win on Sunday so that Jhulan would get to play again irrespective of how the campaign could have ended from there tells a lot. This was supposed to be their swansong. But not everyone gets a fairytale finish, and that doesn’t make them any less.
As Mithali said there would be generations of players coming and going, there’d be fresh faces and some experienced players and India are no different. While this could be a starting point of a transformation, it’s worth taking some time to pause and acknowledge what this team and the legendary duo has done for Indian cricket.
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