India captain Harmanpreet Kaur bemoaned missed opportunities on the field that were crucial to her team’s devastating six-wicket loss to South Africa in the Women’s T20 World Cup Group A match in Manchester on Sunday.
Marizanne Kapp scored a match-winning 81 not out off 45 balls, including seven fours and four sixes, after Radha Yadav missed two regulation opportunities at long-on.
“We got a couple of chances in between but couldn’t take those chances. We have two matches and this is the time to stay positive. Shree Charani and Shafali (Verma) bowled well but the fielders didn’t support them. We have to take opportunities at this level. We were not lucky enough with that,” Harmanpreet, who became the first-ever cricketer among both men’s and women’s to play 200 T20Is, was quoted by PTI as telling the broadcaster after the match.
Even though they are still in second place in the standings, the Indian captain stated that her team will reconsider what they must accomplish in their final two group stage games against Australia and Bangladesh. The top two teams from each group will proceed to the semi-final. Australia leads Group A with three straight victories, followed by India.
“We have two matches and this is the time to think about that. We will sit and rethink about what to do and then will see the changes to be done,” Harmanpreet said.
“She (Kapp) took the game away from us. She gave us two chances and those were the crucial moments and that took the game away from us.”
“Lots of learnings, lots of positive moments and lots of moments where I have to stay strong. Now is the time to stay positive and think what to do in the upcoming games. Hopefully we come up better in the next games,” the Indian captain said.
Laura Wolvaardt, the captain of South Africa, called Kapp’s knock “one of the best” she has ever witnessed.
“We were very stressed up on the bench there. I think to win from the position that we were in was absolutely incredible and it’s probably one of the best knocks I’ve seen under so much pressure,” Wolvaardt said.
“And to do it against a side that we lost the (2025 ODI World Cup) final to as well is pretty special. She’s probably the biggest big match player that I’ve ever seen. I’m really glad she’s on my team,” she added.
Kapp claimed that although she had trouble with the first few balls, her 97-run partnership with Tazmin Brits was a huge success for South Africa.
“It was a tough game. Playing India is always tough. And I am very proud of the way the team came back. I was just praying to be honest,” she said.
“I do well if I am in earlier. I struggled in the first few balls. The partnership with Taz set us up beautifully. We said it is a tough place to bat because you can’t let it get too far but you also can’t lose too many wickets. We had the big hitters in the back-end and just wanted to put our heads down,” Kapp added.
