After scoring a mammoth 338 and getting the wicket of Smriti Mandhana fairly early, it was a night where the game kept slipping away from Australia’s hands, a couple of times quite literally, as the 7-time champions win streak at the ICC Women’s World Cup came to a close thanks to a world-record run-chase by India on Thursday at DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai. And ultimately, that’s what frustrated their captain Alyssa Healy the most – being ‘un-Australian’ in how they went about the defence.
Speaking after the match in the press conference, Healy said that, even though they should have scored more, the target of 339 was solid enough and her side rued not taking the opportunities they created. “We thought we still had a pretty big job to do with the ball and ultimately I just think we dished up a little bit too much junk to hit at times (while bowling) and also probably just didn’t capitalize on the opportunities that we did create. So, yeah, disappointing. It sort of feels a little bit un-Australian to be not as clinical as what we normally are. Knowing how well we’ve played this World Cup feels a little bit disappointing sitting here,” Healy said.
The un-Australianess of the defence Healy was referring to wasn’t just to do with the bowling but also two notable dropped catches to give Rodrigues’ lifelines late in the piece, and the Indian batter went on to capitalise big time, staying unbeaten in the end on 127. One of those was a high catch that Healy herself put down while Tahlia McGrath, her deputy, also was guilty of missing a relatively simple high catch later on.
“(Dropped catches) definitely changed the course of the match. Was it semi-final pressure? Maybe. Was it just, concentration? Was it anything? I’m not sure – we could put that down to whatever. But like I said, on a pretty decent wicket that seemed to be getting better and better to bat on as the night went on, to create those opportunities that we did and not capitalize, I think was disappointing.”
But Healy also was full of praise for Rodrigues’ mental resilience to take India past the finish line. “I think we were still in it with four or five overs to go. Probably five overs to go. I think we were still in it. Funny things happen in games of cricket when it gets tight like that. If you can put enough pressure on an opposition, things can unfold. So, yeah, she played really well tonight. Obviously, like I said, we gave her a couple of opportunities which didn’t help us, but I thought she played really well. I think her resilience; I think her mental resilience out there to get her team over the line was exemplary. So full credit to her.”
While Rodrigues went on to stay unbeaten, her partnership with Harmanpreet Kaur was eventually the clincher for Inda as the duo added 167 for the third wicket after the potentially match-changing wicket of Smriti Mandhana early.
“They’re two high-quality cricketers and have been for a long period of time for India, and we knew that it’s a good wicket, good batting conditions, and we probably just allowed them into the game a little bit by not sticking to our strengths with the ball for long enough. So that was probably the most frustrating part about it. It wasn’t so much that it’s them out there doing their thing, because we’re used to seeing that and we’re used to sort of problem-solving and working it out on the field ourselves to take that wicket and break that partnership. So, kudos to them. I thought they played really well, and Harman seems to step up in those big moments when in India need her. So, she’s going to have to do it all again on Sunday to get them over the line,” Healy signed off.
