Navi Mumbai, Oct 30 (IANS) As Amanjot Kaur struck the winning boundary to seal the five-wicket victory for India over the reigning champions Australia in the second semifinal of the ICC Women’s World Cup in Navi Mumbai, skipper Harmanpreet Kaur was first to race out of the dugout to embrace Hemimah Rodrigues, who hammered a majestic and memorable century to make the win possible.

Harmanpreet herself had scored a run-a-ball 89 and shared a 167-run partnership with Jemimah as India aced the biggest chase in Women’s World Cup history. Chasing Australia 338 all out build on a century by Phoebe Litchfield (117) and half-centuries by Ellyse Perry (77) and Ashleigh Gardner (63), India reached 341/5 in 48.3 overs thanks to Rodrigues’ sensational innings, Harmanpreet’s blazing 89 and cameos by Deepti Sharma and Richa Ghosh to script a memorable victory and set a summit clash with South Africa on Sunday.

The India captain said she was extremely proud of her team’s performance and said it was the outcome of six months of hard work on the part of the team and coaching staff led by Amol Muzumdar.

“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,” said Harmanpreet Kaur in the post-match presentation.

“We (she and head coach Amol Muzumdar) spoke to each other that we have done this because we have been working so hard. Both of us are really proud of this team. We have that trust that any player can win any match from any situation. Made a few mistakes, but we have been learning from our mistakes,” she added.

Harmanpreet picked the narrow defeat against England as the match they discussed on the morning of the semifinal against Australia.

“Today, wanted everything to go in our favour in every situation, and kept telling ourselves to be there for the team, and that worked for us. That day (against England), we realised we did not execute well. We were late by 2-3 overs; we could have taken risks a few overs earlier, and that cost us. That is what we discussed, that we have to be calculative. Once you are out of the game, it is hard to come back,” said Harman.

She said they had discussed in the pre-match team meeting how they had to be calm and calculated in the last five overs.

“I know it is 50 overs, but the last five overs are where you have to be very particular and calculative. We knew what we had to do in the same situation, and we wanted to finish it before the 50th over,” said the Indian captain.

The Indian captain gave credit to Jemimah Rodrigues for her brilliant innings and the way she remained there in the middle till the end.

“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 in her. Both of us had a good time on the pitch. Whenever we were batting, we were complementing each other and calculating. Really enjoy batting with her. She is always telling me we have 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 for holding her nerve and keeping batting for the team,” said Harmanpreet.

She said now it was all about the last game of the World Cup — the final against South Africa.

“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 the 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 it our best,’ said the seasoned allrounder who is playing in her fifth World Cup.

Harman thanked the huge crowd that had filled the stadium for their support. “We are not playing alone. They are with us, and every game, they are coming and pushing us. They have been amazing, even when we lost, we got messages that this World Cup is not done and we can change it. Entire country is with us,” she said.

–IANS

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