Everyone was surprised to see the veteran Mithali Raj left out of the Indian team for the crucial ICC women's World T20 semi-final clash against England and the move backfired and how.
Mithali was India's third run-scorer in the tournament and scored 107 runs from two innings, including two fifties. She however was dropped for the game against Australia, which India won by 48 runs to top their group. And on Friday, India decided to stick to the winning combination and paid for it.
Harmanpreet Kaur's women were all-out for a paltry total of 112 from 19.3 overs and the inability to deal with pressure exuded out from the young Indian team.
In reply, England reached the target with 17 balls to spare with the help of fifties from Amy Jones (53*) and Natalie Sciver (52*) and set up a final clash with Australia.
Everything goes well when the team wins but in this case, India didn't and the team combination was the first question that was thrown at captain Harmanpreet and she said that the decision was taken keeping in mind the best combination for the team.
"Whatever we decided, we decided for the team. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, no regrets," Harmanpreet said.
"I'm proud of the way my girls played through the tournament. This is a learning for us because we are a young team," she added.
The 29-year-old also praised England for their sensational bowling peformance which was led by skipper Heather Knight as she picked up 3/9 from two overs.
"Sometimes you have to change your game according to the wicket. England bowled really well, read the wicket really well," said the all-rounder.
Harmanpreet signed off by praising the bowlers for taking the game to the 18th over and said that the team needs to learn how to play in crunch situaions.
"It was not an easy total to chase, and our bowlers bowled really well. We stretched the match till the 18th over. I think we are a young team and we still need to work on our mental strength. If we can work on how to play under pressure, that will change how we play these games," she signed off.
