Focus now on the final: Harmanpreet Kaur after record win against Australia
Women's cricket team captain Harmanpreet Kaur said that the team was "determined to give their best" against South Africa in the finals of the Women's World Cup.
Last night, India chased a record 339-run target to defend against the mighty Australian team in the ODI Women's World Cup. Star batter Jemimah Rodrigues hit an unbeaten 127 not out to take India to the finals against South Africa in Mumbai on Sunday.
Rodrigues played a brilliant innings with 127 off 134 balls. She shared a 167-run stand with Captain Harmanpreet Kaur who struck a feisty 89 off 88 deliveries.
After the game, Kaur said, the women are determined to “give their best” against first-timers South Africa.
"Very proud. I don't have words to express myself. Feeling great, this time we have crossed that line which we have been working towards for so many years," she said during the post-match presentation.
"One more game to go. Today, we all played well, happy with the result. But we have already started speaking about the next game, which shows how focused we are and how keen we are to win the World Cup.
"Playing in home World Cup is special, and we want to give back to our fans and families. One more game to go and we will give our best," she added.
The Indian skipper praised Rodrigues for showing maturity and composure under pressure.
"She (Rodrigues) is someone who always wants to do well for the team. Always very calculative and wants to take responsibility. We always have that trust on her. Both of us had a good time on the pitch. Whenever we were batting, we were complementing each other and calculating," she said.
Harmanpreet continued with the praise, "Really enjoy batting with her. She is always telling me we got five runs, seven runs, two balls are left. That shows how involved she is. Amazed to see how she was thinking. Lots of credit to her, to hold her nerve and keep batting for the team," she said.
It was sweet victory for the women in blue who were heavily trolled online after their narrow four-run defeat against England earlier in the tournament.
Harmanpreet said the team had learned to manage crucial overs better.
“That day (against England) we realised we didn’t execute well. We were late by 2-3 overs and could’ve taken risks earlier — that cost us. Today, we wanted to be calculative and finish it before the 50th over,” she said.
Speaking about her conversation with head coach Amol Muzumdar after the win, the skipper said: “We spoke about how all the hard work has paid off. Both of us are proud of this team. We trust that any player can win a match from any situation. We’ve made mistakes, but we’ve kept learning from them.
(With inputs from PTI)