Jemimah Rodrigues (Photo source: Twitter)
India women did not get off to the best of starts in the Women’s T20 World Cup 2024. Taking on New Zealand Women in their first game of the season, the Women in Blue faced a hefty loss as they kicked off the tournament on a low note.
There was one moment in the game that proved to be highly controversial. The incident happened on the final ball of the 14th over in the first innings. New Zealand’s Amelia Kerr attempted to take a second run, which saw Harmanpreet Kaur throw the ball from long off.
In a moment where Kerr was clearly found short of the crease and was run out, she was called back by the umpires as Harmanpreet Kaur had thrown the ball back after it was deemed dead. Speaking of the moment, Jemimah Rodrigues took center stage and gave her take on the incident.
“I was not there when the umpire gave the cap to Deepti. I mean, New Zealand was pretty sure that it was a double run and Amelia Kerr showed that the over was not called out. We all thought, okay, we got that run out. Honestly, that’s not in our control, and we respect the decision of the umpire. It’s a bit harsh when Amelia Kerr herself walked out because she knew she was out,” Rodrigues said in the post-match press conference.
This wasn’t the start we were expecting: Harmanpreet Kaur
After the moment, India’s Harmanpreet Kaur was captured having an animated chat with the match officials with India’s head coach Amol Mazumdar being involved in the discussion. However, the game ended in defeat for India, as chasing a target of 161 runs, India women were bundled out for just 102, and Harmanpreet Kaur was not expecting such a showing from the side.
“This is such a high stage where you can’t make these mistakes. We have chased 160-170 many times. But on that pitch .. it was 10-15 runs too many. At one stage, the way they started, I was thinking it would be 180. This wasn’t the start we were expecting,” Harmanpreet Kaur said during the post-match presentation.