Inexperience the reason behind India's loss says, Sunil Gavaskar

We witnessed a nail biting finish to Women’s World Cup 2017 final and one would have to say, it was England who had too much fire power and managed to keep India at bay by mere 9 runs. After the hosts won the toss, the skipper was certain they wanted to bat first and doing so posted 228 runs on the board.

On the given day, any team would take this total, especially for a final. India didn’t get off to a good start as Smriti Mandhana departed without troubling the scorers. After that start, the other opener Punam Raut and heroic performer Harmanpreet Kaur timed the ball to well and made paradigm shift as and when required. Unfortunately, India lost wickets in a bunch which eventually cost them the match.

Inexperience, reason behind India’s loss

Indian batting legend Sunil Gavaskar was one of the thousands of Indians gathered at the Lord’s to cheer the Indian team. When asked about the onus that took the victory away from India, Gavaskar said that team lacked ‘experience’ and the wickets lost in bunch cost them the match.

“India women were outstanding in the tournament but lacked the experience of playing the big matches. They went out and tried their best. In the end, there is gonna be a winner and a loser in limited overs cricket. They gave their best. It was such a close game.  Full marks to them. Very very happy they have played throughout the tournament,’ Gavaskar told NDTV.

Being so close, yet too far

After a scintillating partnership between Raut and Kaur, India lost 7 wickets for mere 20 odd runs and the innings crumbled in no time.

“It is the inexperience. Sometimes in these situations, you need experience. Unfortunately, this time around it wasn’t there. Even a partnership of 20-30 at that stage could have driven India home. The wickets were falling every second third ball and that’s where India lost,” he added.

‘Hope’ incandescent to ‘will’ for coming generation

Though India lost the final the defeat has incandescent ‘will’ and has given wings to millions of girls to play the sport. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is all set to honour the members of the team in a grand function, the members of the team will be paid Rs 50 Lakhs, whereas, the support staff will get 25 Lakhs.