Published 15:25 IST, February 24th 2023
Women's T20 WC: Harmanpreet Kaur cannot control her tears after Anjum Chopra's hug; WATCH
Former India women's cricketer was seen consoling India captain Harmanpreet Kaur after Team India's heartbreaking loss vs Australia in the semifinal.
The Indian Women's cricket team faced a heartbreaking loss vs Australia in the semifinal of the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2023. Team India had nearly won the match but it was India captain Harmanpreet Kaur's bizarre way of getting out which might cost Team India a closely-contested match.
Team India captain Harmanpreet Kaur was unable to control her emotions after the match and broke down after Team India lost the match by 5 runs. Former India player Anjum Chopra had an interaction with India captain Harmanpreet Kaur and seeing her the India captain broke down.
Anjum Chopra consoled Harmanpreet and told about her interaction, “My intention was to give the captain some empathy because that’s all I can give from the outside. It was an emotional moment for both of us. The Indian team have reached the semi-finals many times and have lost."
Anjum Chopra consoles Harmanpreet
“This is not the first time I’ve seen her playing like this. I’ve seen her battle injuries and illness and today she might not have even played. It was a player-to-player moment with her. We were trying to lessen our sorrows by sharing them.”
This was not the first time that Team India was heartbroken at an ICC event. The streak of heartbreaks for the Indian team began with the 2017 Women's World Cup loss against England and has continued from there on.
Team India lost to Australia in the finals of ICC Women's T20 World 2018 and 2020. Team India also lost to Australia in the gold medal match of the Commonwealth Games 2022 which was held in Birmingham.
Harmanpreet Kaur also wore sunglasses during the post-match conversation. Harmanpreet said that she doesn't want the country to see her crying.
Harmanpreet said, “I don’t want my country to see me crying, hence I am wearing these glasses, I promise, we will improve and won’t let our nation down like this again."
Harmanpreet also spoke regarding her bizarre run-out, saying that, "The way I got runout, can't be unluckier than that. Putting in the effort was more important. We discussed fighting till the last ball. The result didn't go our way, but I am happy with the way we played in this tournament. We know we have a good batting line up even if we lose early wickets. Need to give credit to Jemi for the way she batted today. She got us the momentum we were looking for."
Updated 15:25 IST, February 24th 2023