Dodda Ganesh and Harmanpreet Kaur.
Dodda Ganesh and Harmanpreet Kaur. Image Credit: X

The former Indian pacer Dodda Ganesh has blamed the leader of the Indian women’s side, Harmanpreet Kaur, for their nine-run defeat against Australia, which was their last group stage of the Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 at the iconic Sharjah Cricket Stadium in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Having lost their opening game of the competition, it was a must-win game for the Indian side to keep their hopes alive for the semifinal berth, and now with a defeat where Harmanpreet Kaur stood alone for her unbeaten 54 run knock in 47 deliveries, shouldering on six boundaries at a strike rate of under 115.

Coming into the tournament, she was already under the scanner because of her poor touch. In the opening game, he could make only 15 runs before remaining unbeaten for the rest of the event. Twenty-nine runs came off his blade for the second game while the Punjab-born celebrated two half-centuries against Sri Lanka and Australia.

Dodda Ganesh questions game awareness of Harmanpreet Kaur

Winning the toss on a surface that was always expected to get slow towards the end of the evening, Tahlia McGrath, the stand-in captain for Australia, decided to bat first to use the best half of the surface. They didn’t make a great start in the game, losing two wickets on successive deliveries and posting 37/2 in the powerplay.

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Grace Harris, who opened the batting replacing the wicket-keeper batter Alyssa Healy, struggled badly for her 40-run knock in 41 balls, shouldering on five boundaries at a strike rate of under 100. The acting captain smashed 32 runs in 26 balls.

It was up to the veteran all-rounder of the side, Ellyse Perry, to carry them to a safe score, and she contributed with an incredible 32-run knock in 23 balls, with the help of two boundaries and one six at a strike rate of around 140.

It was a little bit of a surprising decision from Harmanpreet Kaur to bring Arundhati Reddy quite late in the bowling. Annabel Sutherland notched up undefeated ten runs in six balls as they finished with 151/8 in their allotted 20 overs.

Just like Australia, the Blue Brigade also had a difficult start, losing a couple of wickets in the powerplay. Smriti Mandhana’s poor record in crucial encounters continues, while Jemimah Rodrigues took the path of the dressing room after making a decent start in the event.

Shafali Verma cracked 20 runs in 13 deliveries, shouldering on two boundaries and one six with a strike rate of over 150. Harmanpreet Kaur came at number four and remained unbeaten on 54 runs. Deepti Sharma came up with 29 runs in 25 balls.

However, on the fourth ball of the last over, the Indian captain gave a single to the new batter, Shreyanka Patil, when the equation suggested 12 runs being required in two deliveries.

“You have a fifty against your name, and then at a critical juncture, you take a single and expect the new batter to score two sixes off two balls to win the game. Great game awareness by the Indian skipper.” Dodda Ganesh highlighted.

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Kaur has vowed to take some learning lessons from Australia, who have now qualified for the semifinal of the T20 World Cup 2024.

“When me and Deepti were batting, we couldn’t hit a few loose balls. We can learn a lot from Australia. Whatever was in our hands, we were trying to do that but, that’s something not in our control.” Harmanpreet Kaur said, keeping their hope alive on Pakistan beating New Zealand in the last game.