India must recover fast from the shock loss to New Zealand in the Women’s T20 World Cup, said Jemimah Rodrigues after Friday’s match. It was the Harmanpreet Kaur-led squad who came out on the receiving end of a crushing 58-run defeat in the opening match of the Group A in Dubai. India’s batting order fell short of 161 for a win and could score only 102 runs in 19 overs. Most batters failed to deliver their best, and the highest individual score belonged to Captain Harmanpreet Kaur, who contributed only 15.
Addressing the media during the post-match conference on Friday evening, Rodrigues urged his team to forget about the loss. ‘Today was the game we would like to throw into the waste bin, especially if this is a World Cup match’, said Rodrigues, who managed only 13 runs. “It’s time to move because we cannot afford to dwell on this loss.” This team’s character will be displayed on how we rise up from here, said by John.
The match was also associated with an offend contentious moment in the game, where India challenged a run out for New Zealand’s Amelia Kerr. After running a single off the last ball of Deepti Sharma’s over, Kerr did not charge again as Sharma went up to the umpire to pick her cap. They realized this; the Kiwi batters tried a second run, but they were casualties; Kerr was short of the crease as Ghosh whipped off the bails. But as it turned out, the umpires were correct because when a single was taken, the ball became dead, and thus, cannot talk of a run-out.
‘New Zealand was almost sure that it was a second run, and Amelia went for it, mumble likely the over was not over,’ he said. In my mind, we had got the run-out, but we always accepted the umpire’s decision. It’s hard, worse, when Amelia herself had to walk out, be aware that she was out of the pitch.
Rodrigues did not despair and referred to the next games, stressing that is crucial for the team to recover from such a loss.
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