Middle overs strategy under scrutiny, Muzumdar laments missed fielding chances

Your destiny should generally be in your hands And if you canrsquot achieve your goal you canrsquot expect others to do it for you That was Indiarsquos plight after losing their Womenrsquos T20 World Cup match against Australia on Sunday as they were left hoping for a miracle from Pakistan against New Zealand Ironically had India won they wouldrsquove still had to wait for the outcome of the New Zealand v Pakistan game to know if they qualified for the semis but at least then they wouldrsquove had a marginally better chance of progressing Could India have done something different against Australia Did the decision to play with a batter short prove costlyDropping Sajeevan backfiredThe team management decided to drop hardhitting batter Sajana Sajeevan and include a fitagain pace bowler Pooja Vastrakar That left India with six frontline bowlers with only Deepti Sharma being a capable batter among them The move gave India a longer tail After Deeptirsquos 29 off 25 dismissal a bighitter like Sajana was needed to support skipper Harmanpreet Kaur 54 not out off 47 who almost singlehandedly battled to keep her team in the hunt until the final overAmol MuzumdarAfter the defeat the skipper hit the nail on the head when she said that Deepti and she could have been a bit more aggressive in the middle overs ldquoDespite the conditions I think we did really well We knew this was a difficult tournament The only thing is when Deepti and I were batting we did not utilise a few loose balls We could have controlled collected a few the boundaries I think we were still in the game till the final over but then again as we know the Australians are experienced and they know how to win such close games This is what we have to learn from themrdquo said HarmanpreetCoach disappointedIndia head coach Amol Muzumdar rued the teamrsquos missed opportunities in the field ldquoWe were right in the game till the last over The experience of Australia saw them through We are a little disappointed We fielded pretty well but a couple of chances could have been taken Had we taken those it could have made a differencerdquo Muzumdar said at the postmatch press conferenceAlso ReadEXPLAINED The MCC rule behind Phoebe Litchfieldrsquos LBW controversyHe also felt that had the target been slightly lesser his team would have had a better chance of winning ldquoMaybe 1015 runs less would have been ideal for us Even in the last over we could have played better At the same time I would like to say that we put in our best effort in this gamerdquo he addedSutherland knew her plan in the final over McGrathAnnabel SutherlandIndia needed 14 runs off the final over to get a remarkable win over Australia but pacer Annabel Sutherland had other ideas Annabel picked two wickets while conceding three runs to help Australia get a ninerun win ldquoShersquos so composed She knew her plan she executed beautifully I said to her after lsquohow was your heart ratersquo and she goes lsquono I was fine I was chill asrsquo so I think that just shows the type of maturity that Belsey hasrdquo standin skipper Tahlia McGrath saidIndiarsquos slipups in the fieldGhosh misses a stumpingOn the fourth ball of the very first over of the match bowled by Renuka Singh Australia opener Grace Harris survived a stumping opportunity after India wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh failed to collect the ball Australia were 50 at the time Harris went on to score 40 off 41 ballsDeepti drops HarrisHarris got another lifeline in the ninth over when she was dropped by Deepti Sharma at the backward point off Arundhati Reddy Deepti got down late and got both hands on the ball but couldnrsquot hang on Harris was on 24 while Australia were 552Skipper Harmanpreet spills itAustraliarsquos standin skipper Tahlia McGrath was handed a lifeline by India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur who dropped a sitter at extracover off Radha Yadav in the 12th over McGrath was on 31 and Australia on 772 She was dismissed two balls later courtesy a stumping by GhoshHarmanpreet drops one morePhoebe Litchfield was dropped by a diving Harmanpreet at a full stretch in the penultimate over when she was on eight and Australia 1335 Litchfield went on to hammer a lastball six to take the Aussie total beyond the 150run markIndiarsquos hopes end as Pak lose to NZIndiarsquos hopes of reaching the Womenrsquos T20 World Cup semifinals ended after New Zealand beat Pakistan by 54 runs in their final Group A league match here on Monday Chasing 111 Pakistan were bundled out for just 56 in 114 overs Allrounder Amelia Kerr claimed 314 The victory took New Zealand to second place with three wins while India ended third with two wins from four matches Earlier opener Suzie Bates top scored 28 off 29 as NZ posted 1106 in their 20 overs