India fail to conquer the Australian challenge (yet again)

You can’t make this up. 

Are you telling me that it happened (yet again)? 

Are you telling me that India failed in the final frontier against Australia after taking it right down to the wire? 

You know the script; you know how it is going to end, but even then, you believe that it is going to change at some point. But for it to become a habit makes things quite ‘inexplicable’. 

Your hopes still rely on Harmanpreet Kaur, you know that she has it in her to chase the target down against Australia, the beasts. But even then, it keeps happening again, again and again. 

Is this deja vu?

India’s fate with Australia is quite peculiar. It is almost like their results are controlled like puppets. If it is not the bat getting stuck to the ground, it is an inexplicable scoop that triggers a generational trauma. 

If it is neither of those, it is the ‘game awareness’ that ends up coming to the fore every time India lose such a close contest. It wasn’t any different in this clash against Australia, either. You can count all the situations, the unnecessary single that was non-existent, causing Richa Ghosh’s downfall. 

You can look at how Harmanpreet played out Megan Schutt’s last over for just one run. The obvious issue still lies in the simplest of things - game awareness. In the very end delivery of that over, Harmanpreet nearly lost her wicket with yet another risky single, but Beth Mooney didn’t take the opportunity. 

Even when you knew that all of this was going to play out in this same manner, one bit of your heart still expected India to walk away against Australia with two crucial points. You still believed that India will learn a lesson and grab the game by the scruff of its neck. 

And, then you SEE that Harman lets Pooja Vastrakar take a single and take strike in the 19th over. While she might have scored a boundary, it still shows you how much this Indian team, and Harmanpreet, still are lackadaisical out in the field, especially when your team needed 28 off two overs. 

But then you still and watch it all play in front of you like it is a repeat telecast. You are quite literally left with your hands all over your face. 

How can you explain that your most seasoned operator, Harmanpreet, takes a SINGLE OFF THE FIRST BALL OF THE 20TH OVER? Especially on a surface where every batter has struggled during the start of their stay at the crease? 

And, when you know the TARGET IS 14 OFF 6? 

Or how can you explain Harmanpreet not learning her lesson in the very same over, with a single off the fourth ball, with the equation reading 12 off 2, then leaving it to Shreyanka Patil to finish the game? 

Even if you can somehow explain all of this. 

Tell me this: why would Shreyanka, with India needing 12 off 2, not TAKE A SINGLE? What’s she not running for, especially when you have your skipper Harmanpreet at the other end? And how can you explain that she was always at the crease and yet ended up being outside her crease?

That run-out is as schoolgirl error as it could get. She was there, believing that she was inside her crease and getting run out in the most comical of fashions. 

“Whatever was in our hands, we were trying to do that, but that's something not in our control,” Harmanpreet said at the post-match presentation as well. 

See, these are things you can’t just explain. It is that hard. But yet, cometh the hour, cometh all these mistakes. That’s what Australia do to you. They make you feel the pressure even when you are ahead of the game. They make you feel like the underdog, even if the equation is as simple as 14 off the last over. 

Perhaps this remains India’s biggest hurdle when it comes to the big stage: the lack of confidence. Lack of the big-dog mentality. But more importantly, do you know why they say 'stick to the basics'? It is not because basics are the easiest thing to do; it is because sticking to basics is the toughest thing to do. That's why Australia remain Australia. 

When loss happens again, again and again, all you can do is watch and feel: what if the world were a different place?

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