It's a heartbreaking moment – Harmanpreet Kaur on India's loss to England

India suffered their third straight defeat in the ongoing ICC Women’s ODI World Cup as despite coming within inches of an emphatic win against England, things went astray towards the end. Indian skipper, Harmanpreet Kaur played a solid knock, smashing 70 in what was a daunting chase. Talking at the post-match presentation, Kaur opened up on the turning point while underlining the situations that defined the game. She also highlighted the firepower that India had which should have contributed to a bigger cause.

Talking about the turning point of the game, Kaur said, “I think Smriti's wicket was something which was a turning point for us and I still think we had too many batters. I don't know how things went the other way, but credit goes to England. They didn't lose. They kept bowling well and kept getting wickets there. It (the feeling) is bad because you have put in so much hard work and you kept ticking the box till the end, but last 5-6 overs didn't go according to your plan. That's the worst but definitely it's a very heartbreaking moment.”

Shedding light about India’s display in the tournament, Kaur added, “We are playing good cricket, we are not giving up. But that last line we have to cross now because it's been the last three games where we showed up with good cricket. But unfortunately ended up on the losing side and hopefully the next game is very important for us and we'll cross that line. Our bowlers did a really good job because when Nat and Heather were batting, they were looking really good. And we thought if we can get them to less than 300, that's a plus for us because this pitch and the ground is very fast and we can chase, that's why we wanted to bowl first.”

She further said, “A lot of things we did right. But again, last five overs, something which again we need to, as a group, sit together and rethink. (If they needed an extra batter) These things will keep going because I think things were under control when Smriti and I were batting. And I think Smriti's wicket was turning for us. But still, we had Richa, Amanjot and Deepti, who have won games for us in the past. But unfortunately, today we were not able to make it. It was a very important match for all of us.”

Kaur concluded with an important message for the New Zealand game, stating, “We wanted to show good cricket as a group. And unfortunately, in the end, we were not able to make it. Even though we ended up losing, we really played good cricket and we haven't given anyone anything easily. But now the next game is very important and hopefully it will go our way.”