Harmanpreet Kaur doesn't usually drop regulation chances. Fumbling one at extra cover off Tahlia McGrath was followed by a quiet reprimand to herself, head-down. She put in a compensatory valiant diving effort the very next ball, running back, only for the ball to fall over her head and allow Grace Harris to cross over. When McGrath gave left-arm spinner Radha Yadav the charge next delivery and miss it to get stumped, a relieved Harmanpreet's hug to the bowler meant more than just a sorry.

In the drinks break of India's 152-run chase at the Sharjah Cricket Ground, as the floodlights dimmed for a bit of a dance and light show, Harmanpreet sent out a member of the drinks-carrying party to go all the way back to her seating and get her a change of bats. Something hadn't felt quite right about the one in her hand. Of the two replacements - one so new it's still in its protective plastic wrapping - Harmanpreet picked one out, did a couple of shadow-batting hits, and quickly decided to move on, in an almost exclusive conversation with head coach Amol Muzumdar.

"First and foremost, it was about the run chase. And then, [about] keeping the net run rate also in account," Muzumdar said after the narrow nine-run loss on Sunday (October 13). "I thought Harman's presence was very important till the end. That is what I felt in her run-chase. We almost got it through."

India needed 85 off the remaining 10 overs at the time, and were in the middle of a proper Australian middle-overs choke. From the eighth over till the last ball of 14th, India had hit only one boundary. Even if scratchy, and aided by busy starts from Jemimah Rodrigues and Deepti Sharma at the other end, Harmanpreet had found ways of sticking around till the end to bring the equation down to 14 off the last six. But there was frustration aplenty for the Indian skipper through the night.

Like, the slog-sweep that on any other day and on any other ground would have been a six nearly ended in a diving Darcie Brown's hands, a free-hit that she stepped out to but couldn't connect, an extra chirpy stand-in 'keeper Beth Mooney who was constantly in Harmanpreet's ears. And a short while later, the acceleration that was too little too late and culminated in a collapse of 6 for 32 to evoke the all too familiar emotion of so near yet so far.

Comparatively, India (99/3) weren't too far off from Australia's score of 101/5 at the start of the death overs. If anything, the wickets in hand should have helped India have a real stab at it. Much to the disappointment of the Indian skipper, from there on every effort to step on the gas was negated by a wicket at the other end as Australia, like the world champions they are, clinically dismantled India's lower order one wicket at the time.

The two biggest stabs would have been the departure of Deepti Sharma orchestrated by Player of the Match Sophie Molineux who made the southpaw hit out to the longest fence. Two balls later, in an extraordinary 17th over from Megan Schutt under pressure, Richa Ghosh set off for a non-existent single. Standing in the middle of it all was a visibly drained Harmanpreet, hunched over her bat as she saw another World Cup dream slip out their hands.

By no means was the slow start, or the befuddling last-over move, from Harmanpreet less culpable. But while she showed resolve to get over a night of multiple frustrations and keep the fight on, Australia came prepared for this contingency they have faced far too often for their liking.

"Harman controls run chases unbelievably well," said Tahlia McGrath, Australia's stand-in captain for the match. "We've seen her do it time and time again and it was just cruising at times and we had to come up with plans. As soon as Harman's at the wicket in a run chase you never feel fully in control because she can just go through the gears really quick and take a game away from you," she added.

The scarring experience of having Harmanpreet run all over them in the 2017 ODI World Cup has triggered a fight-or-flight response like no other from Australia, no matter what the personnel. Dial back to the Commonwealth Games final in 2022 or the T20 World Cup semifinal that followed eight months later in Cape Town - the skipper's half-century had India cruising, and her dismissal in both chases triggering a fatal collapse for India from winning positions. Expectedly, Australia were equipped to take down, or at least contain, the nemesis that has been, for a while now, threatening to close in the gap on them almost single-handedly.

"Today I thought we contained her really well early and then never quite let her get away. In saying that she batted really well on some tough conditions but I was really happy with the way we contained her," McGrath noted.

Her valiant 54* in vain as she excruciatingly watched the final over unfold from the non-striker's end, Harmanpreet would have perhaps repented that single off the first ball countless times between those remaining five deliveries. Maybe it still played on her mind during the expressionless handshakes. On her way back to the dugout, she looked up just once - to check-in on Tayla Vlaemnick who had her injured right shoulder in a brace and a World Cup ended prematurely. Because she knows the pain.

"She's going through a lot of pain," said Muzumdar, putting his captain's performance in perspective. "She got hit on her head right at the start of the tournament. Just before the New Zealand game, she had a hit on her head a night prior when we were practising. But she's fine, I think. She's battling with it and you can see it. She's a workhorse, so I think she goes about doing her business."

Source: cricbuzz