Harmanpreet: 'Batters couldn't hold nerve after my wicket'
The Mumbai captain says their 2024 season was up and down, unlike the last one
ESPNcricinfo staff
15-Mar-2024
Harmanpreet Kaur couldn't see her side through • PTI
Mumbai Indians captain Harmanpreet Kaur believes her wicket was the turning point that led to a five-run loss that eliminated them from WPL 2024. Mumbai were in the driver's seat while chasing 136, when they needed 16 runs off 13 balls with Harmanpreet and Amelia Kerr batting and seven wickets in hand.
But once Harmanpreet holed out to long-on at the end of the 18th over, the rest of the Mumbai line-up failed to score the remaining runs which became 12 off six after Sophie Molineux conceded just four in the 19th over and dismissed S Sajana.
"In 12 balls we just needed one boundary and we were not able to get it," Harmanpreet said after the match. "That is what this game always teaches you. It puts you under pressure and you have to keep learning from it.
"When we lost my wicket, after that our batters could not hold their nerve, that was the turning point."
Mumbai had restricted RCB to 135, a total that looked chasable in the conditions, especially when Mumbai were 60 for 2 at the halfway mark and required 76 from 60. Harmanpreet and Kerr steered them once Nat Sciver-Brunt fell in the 11th over with a steady partnership of 52 that saw them strike regular boundaries after the 15th over. From 43 off 30, they reduced it to 20 off 18 when Harmanpreet survived a stumping chance off Shreyanka Patil when Richa Ghosh failed to collect the ball cleanly. But five balls later Patil had Harmanpreet caught by Sophie Devine at long-on.
"We fought really hard," Harmanpreet said. "This season has been a little up and down for us. Last season as a team we did really well but this time our performance was little up and down. But we learned a lot this season and hopefully next season we prepare really well and come [back] hard."
Harmanpreet, however, praised Sajana who had hit a stunning six off her first ball of the WPL in the opening game of the season to register a last-ball win against Delhi Capitals.
"We got SS (Sajana) during this tournament, she is someone who can hit the ball really hard," Harmanpreet said of their find of the year. "And that is what we want the WPL to do, to create more young players and it's good to see young girls are coming and giving their 100%.