Smriti Mandhana’s head arched back in frustration. She punched her helmet as she walked back, barely looking up. Just before she was dismissed, the boundaries had dried up for her; she was evidently struggling with cramp and couldn’t quite find the gaps in the field as she had done for the majority of the night.
Her worst fears came true as the match progressed towards its conclusion – India somehow contrived to lose a match – their third in a row this World Cup – they had no business losing. When it came to the crunch, they fell four runs short against England.
In the 42nd over, with the equation reading 55 off 53 balls a memorable and vital win, Smriti decided to take on Linsey Smith down the ground.
Now, Smith is not your regular left-arm spinner. In fact, as former England captain Nasser Hussain put it, she probably can’t even be classified as a spinner at all. She gets the ball to drift… new or old. She drifted one away from Smriti’s reach. The batter didn’t get the power through her hands, and the mishit went to Alice Capsey at long off. Even with a few fireworks going off in the background, Indore fell silent.
Till then, India were cruising. And then they weren’t. With the finish line in sight, Smriti’s dismissal for a 94-ball 88 allowed England back into the game.
England, who themselves had collapsed in the last 10 overs earlier in the day to finish with what felt like a below-par 288, pulled off a stunning heist to join Australia and South Africa in the semifinals, while India find themselves in a straight shootout against New Zealand.
The rain in Colombo has meant that New Zealand have been able to pick up just four points after five matches, which keeps India’s destiny in their own hands – beat New Zealand and Bangladesh in Navi Mumbai, and they’d be in the semifinals.
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Unwanted hat-trick
But three straight defeats – especially the one on Sunday – would sting. From requiring a run a ball with plenty of wickets in hand, shot selection went awry, the pressure got to the batters and England spoiled India’s Diwali party.
“Smriti’s wicket was a turning point,” Harmanpreet said in the post-match chat. “Still, we had many players who can bat. I don’t know how things went the other way, but credit goes to England. They didn’t lose hope. They kept getting wickets. It’s a bad feeling in the dressing room, because when you have put so much hard work and are taking the game till the end, but in the last five-six overs, (things) didn’t go as per plan. I am at a loss for words, definitely it’s a very heartbreaking moment.”
As she walked into the press conference, it was evident that Smriti wasn’t pleased with how that match ended. “We could have done better with our short selection, especially the collapse started from me, so I will take it on me. We just needed six per over, should have maybe taken it deeper,” she said.
What made her play that shot?
“I thought I could take her (Smith) on, I was trying to aim more over cover and mistimed it. Maybe the shot wasn’t needed at that time, I just needed to be more patient because throughout the innings, I was trying to tell myself to be patient and not to play aerial shots. But maybe the emotions took over for that one, which never helps in cricket.”
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Good till it lasted
Indeed, when Smriti and Harmanpreet were in the middle, everything felt alright for India. India dropped Jemimah Rodrigues for the match, finally deciding to strengthen their bowling by bringing in Renuka Singh Thakur. That meant there was more onus on the top order to play innings of volume and not just cameos – but both Pratika Rawal and Harleen Deol failed to do that.
Strangely, Smriti faced just 18 balls in the first 12 overs of India’s innings, but by the time Harmanpreet walked out, there was a better rhythm to the innings. Their 125-run partnership off 122 balls was beautifully paced, with minimal risk and timely boundaries.
The experienced duo made it look easy. Between overs 11 and 20, India amassed 62 runs without losing a wicket. They’d almost repeat it between overs 21-30, scoring 59/0. These were the phases India had struggled at the start of the tournament, but not on Sunday at the Holkar Stadium as Harmanpreet’s drives through the offside and Smriti’s cuts and late cuts kept the boundaries coming. The captain and vice- captain were especially aggressive against England’s best bowler, Sophie Ecclestone.
The world No.1 spinner is often cautiously dealt with by opponents but here she was going for runs. But she’d still have time to have one final say. Harmanpreet’s dismissal for a run-a-ball 70 brought Deepti Sharma to the middle, and she struck a good partnership with Smriti.
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After the opener fell for that rash shot, Deepti kept the scoreboard ticking with her half-century… and then in Ecclestone’s last over, went for a slog-sweep that had no timing. It was the story of India’s downfall: shot selection gone wrong. With Richa Ghosh not able to find the big shots, there was too much heavy lifting to do for Amanjot Kaur and Sneh Rana in the end.
Brief scores: India 284/6 in 50 overs (Smriti Mandhana 88, Harmanpreet Kaur 70; Nat Sciver-Brunt 2/47) lost to England 288/8 in 50 overs (Heather Knight 109, Amy Jones 56; Deepti Sharma 4/51) by four runs
