The Indian women’s team suffered a heartbreaking defeat last night in a must-win clash against Australia Women in the ongoing ICC T20 Women’s World Cup 2024.
The Women in Blue failed to reach 152 in their final group stage match after succumbing to a 9-run defeat and jeopardizing their chances of qualifying for the semi-final.
Following the defeat, former Indian cricketer Punam Raut criticized four senior players, including captain Harmanpreet Kaur. Notably, Raut, who has represented India in four Tests, 73 ODIs and 35 T20Is, scoring 3,282 runs across formats including four hundreds and 15 half-centuries, highlighted that experience does not matter if it is not implemented correctly.
The part-time player, who also picked up four wickets and played her last match for India in 2021, took to her social media account on X (formerly Twitter) to voice her concerns.
Punam Raut wrote in
Having experience from 100 games = 0 experience… if it cannot be applied in important games.
– Punam Raut (@raut_punam) October 14, 2024
India in a three-horse race for a place in the last 16
India’s top stars Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues failed to make much of an impact in the crucial match, exiting early with scores of 6 (12) and 16 (12), respectively. Although captain Harmanpreet Kaur and Deepti Sharma scored 54* (47) and 29 (25), the duo failed to take the team to the finish line.
Kaur also attracted criticism for her decisions, where she notably took two singles off as many deliveries in the last over when India needed 14 runs from Annabel Sutherland in the last over.
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Talking about India’s qualification chances, Indian eves now expect Pakistan women to defeat New Zealand women to secure a place in the semi-finals. India (4 points from 4 games), New Zealand (4 points from 3 games) and Pakistan (2 points from 3 games) are in a three-horse race for a place in the knockout matches.
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