T20 World Cup: Will be a good idea to have reserve day in future, says Harmanpreet after SF washout

India qualified for the final of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup on Thursday after their semi-final clash with England at the Sydney Cricket Ground was washed out.

India had won all four of their matches in the group stage, whereas England had lost a game to South Africa, and that proved to be the deciding factor on Thursday.

The International Cricket Council has kept a reserve day for the final but no such provision was provided for the semis. This rule came in for severe flack on social media as fans were robbed of an exciting clash due to the ICC’s poor planning.

After the washed out game on Thursday, India captain Harmanpreet Kaur said that the ICC must consider having reserve days for knockout matches in the future.

“Unfortunate for England, it will be a good idea to have reserve days in the future,” she said in a post-match interview on the field. “But credit to our team that we managed to win all our games. Everyone in our team seems to be in great touch. We will look to get a good start in the final as well.”

England captain Heather Knight, too, rued the fact that the ICC didn’t account for rain while scheduling the knockout matches of the World Cup.

“We didn’t have a chance with no reserve day in place,” said Knight. “That loss to South Africa in the group stage cost us. It’s frustrating because we were looking forward to playing today and fighting for a spot in the final. But it wasn’t to be. We will have to look at starting strongly in tournaments, it has cost us this time around.”

Commenting on her and Smriti Mandhana’s lack of big scores in the tournament, Kaur said that the duo is working hard to get back to top form.

“Smriti and I are trying to spend as much time as possible in the nets,” she said. “We are trying to give our best but unfortunately it hasn’t come off. But I’m glad that the others have stepped up. We will keep trying to play better. We will just try to play our best cricket in the final. If we do that we’ll be in a good position. The opponents in the final don’t matter, we have to focus on our game.”