The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
The last-ball action heroine
Harmanpreet strikes eight runs from last two balls to pull off a heist versus SA in WC qualifier final
THE DRESSING room celebrations after the match were restricted to singing and dancing (the team had a late evening flight), but emotions overflew on the field after the Indian women pulled off a humdinger in the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier final against South Africa at the P Sara Oval in Colombo.
The victory target for India was 245 and in the end, it came down to eight off two balls, with just a wicket in hand. The first four deliveries yielded only a single. But Harmanpreet Kaur kept calm and hit a six over deep mid-wicket and then, she chipped the final delivery from Marcia Letsoala towards long-on and her partner Rajeshwari Gayakwad responded brilliantly to steal a couple. The Indian eves, who had already qualified for the World Cup proper in England later this year, win maintained their unbeaten record in the qualifier.
It was also India’s highest-ever successful run chase in the ODIS. “To be honest, I was waiting for that ball because that is my strong area. I know like we needed nine runs in the final over and I was going to hit the ball. If we run then we will go for two runs. My partner also did a great job and ran two. It was a total team effort from our side,” Harmanpreet said after the match. She stood in for the injured Mithali Raj— jarred hamstring—and played a captain’s knock, scoring an unbeaten run-a-ball 41.
Solid foundation
But player-of-the-match Deepti Sharma set it up with an 89-ball 71 at the top. India needed a solid foundation in a steep climb and they looked under pressure at 20 for one after 7.3 overs. Deepti, along with Mona Meshram (59), began the rebuilding job. They added 124 runs for the second wicket but progress was still slow. Then, the two set batters departed in successive overs and the momentum once again started to slip.
Harmanpreet and Veda Krishnamurthy, however, made good use of the batting power-play from the 36th over and brought down the equation to 59 off the last 10. “The second power-play was the key. The plan was to capitalise on that and our good form in the tournament and Harmanpreet’s presence gave us belief. Also, we had beaten South Africa in the Super Six. So, we never thought the target was beyond our reach; even after three dot balls in the final over. We basically concentrated on strike rotation and did it well,” Deepti told The Indian Express.
The 19-year-old finished as the tournament top-scorer with 253 runs at 50.60 from six matches and dedicated the success to her elder brother Sumit. “He is a cricketer and he is the reason why I started playing this game,” Deepti said.
Left-arm spinner Ekta Bisht was the highest wicket-taker with 13 scalps from five games. Today she opened the bowling and returned with one for 39 from 9.4 overs. But unlike the Super Six fixture, when the Indian spinners had choked the Saffers, bowling was a tad leaky on the day. In fact, South Africa took a different approach to counter spin as their captain Dane van Niekerk called for “a mindset shift” ahead of the final. Her team mates responded with a more nimble footwork.
“I won’t say we didn’t bowl well today. It was a good pitch for batting and they played well,” Ekta told this paper. She agreed that things became a little tense towards the end, especially after the fall of the ninth wicket. “But Harmanpreet was there and as long as she was taking strike, we were confident.”
The Indian eves had to play the World Cup Qualifier because the ICC awarded full points to Pakistan women following India’s forfeiture of the three-match bilateral ODI series in October last year. The points would have added up towards the ICC Women’s Championship and the non-participation in the series saw India drop into the bottom four and miss out on a direct World Cup entry. Ekta, however, said the team came to the Qualifier with a lot of positivity. “We were confident about winning the tournament, let alone qualifying for the World Cup. Also, they way we won today, we would carry forward the confidence to England.”
The India women started off their campaign with a 114-run thumping of the hosts Sri Lanka and didn’t look back. They bundled out Pakistan for 67 in their Super Six match and won by seven wickets with 165 balls to spare. The eves thoroughly deserved this title, and a bit of bragging rights, going into the World Cup proper.
South Africa Women 244 in 49.4 overs (M du Preez 40, D van Niekerk 37; Rajeshwari Gayakwad 3/51) lost to India Women 245/9 in 50 overs (Deepti Sharma 71 Mona Meshram 59, Harmanpreet Kaur 41 not out) by one wicket.
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