Harmanpreet Kaur found it difficult to control her tears as she cursed her poor luck for a freak run-out that led to another heart-breaking knock-out defeat against Australia in the semi-final of the Women's T20 World Cup on Thursday.
Battling high fever and dehydration, the skipper struck a delightful fifty and conjured a scintillating partnership with Jemimah Rodrigues, but in the end was caught inches short while failing to slide her bat in.
Harmanpreet believed that if she had stayed until the end, India would have won the match with an over to spare.
Responding to former England captain Nasser Hussain calling her run out a 'schoolgirl error', Harmanpreet responded: 'He said that? (Raises her eyebrows). I don't know, that's his way of thinking, but sometimes it happens.'
'I have seen many times in cricket when batters are taking a single like that and the bat gets stuck there. Obviously, I will take it as we were unlucky today.
'Definitely, we didn't field well, we didn't bowl well in patches and we didn't bat well. You have to do well in all the departments, then only you have the chance to go to the finals,' the skipper added.
'I think it was unlucky,' Harmanpreet said, asserting, 'but I don't think it was a mistake by a schoolgirl.'
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