The emotions ran high at the Newlands Cricket Ground in Cape Town on Thursday. India, finalists in the previous edition of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, exited the tournament by the smallest of margins. 

After being crushed by five runs, a teary-eyed India’s hopes of ending a title drought across formats ended in familiar disappointment. In the end, the margin of defeat was rather shocking, no wider than the few inches between the tip of Harmanpreet Kaur’s bat and the crease when she was ominously run out by an equanimous Alyssa Healy.