Indian batter Jemimah Rodrigues was deeply disappointed after the team suffered a five-run loss against Australia in the semifinal of the ongoing Women’s T20 World Cup 2023. Rodrigues admitted that Harmanpreet Kaur’s dismissal was a very unfortunate one and feels it was the turning point of the game.
In fact, Jemimah Rodrigues and Harmanpreet Kaur were going strong after India lost three early wickets in the Powerplay overs. The duo added 69 runs at a good click for the fourth wicket before Rodrigues was dismissed while trying to play an uppercut.
Subsequently, Kaur’s bat got stuck in the pitch when she was returning to complete the second run and she was dismissed in a peculiar manner. India had the match in their grasp as long as Kaur was there in the middle but it slipped as soon as she was dismissed.
As quoted by ICC, Jemimah Rodrigues said: “We were going well. We had it under control. If you had seen most of the times, we were above them in every phase. Just the last phase we messed up. But yeah it’s a tough loss to take. Harman’s dismissal was a very unfortunate one. I don’t know what to say. I don’t think anybody’s happy. Everyone’s disappointed, but at the same time, this is like a learning experience. And I promise you that every single girl is going to work very hard.”
Speaking about the positives from the tournament, Rodrigues feels the rise of players like Richa Ghosh was a big boost.
“I think the first one will be the rise of youngsters like Richa. This India team is searching for a finisher and she can be the one, and she is actually the one for us. This team shows a lot of promise. And if you go to see how average age is, it’s around 24, so I imagine that we’ll be giving this Australian team competition a few years down the line.”
Meanwhile, while India’s batting was good in the semifinal against the mighty Australians, they were sloppy in the field, which led to their downfall.
Australia will face either England or hosts South Africa in the final of the tournament.