Eight-day gap before T20 World Cup final hurt India Women, feels Mithali Raj

“Having seven-eight days of no game time between their last league match and the final hurt India, I feel. If they had got a match in the semi-final and won it, it would have been the best way to reach the final. It would have given them a continuation of the momentum they had built so well from the group stage. Unfortunately, the semi-final was cut off because of the rain; that snapped India's momentum in the tournament,” Raj was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo.

“Going into the final with the atmosphere at the MCG what it was, any team would have felt the pressure. Probably Australia were also under huge pressure because you are the host team and you are in the final with nearly 90,000 people watching you play India, a team that beat you comprehensively in the first game of the tournament. India didn't have anything to lose; they were the team to beat in the tournament, they should have been super confident, having won all the games in the group stage.”

“I personally felt the Indian team did decently well through the World Cup in terms of fielding. In the final, yes, the dropped chances proved costly, but in cricket, when you put yourself in pressure situations, things you would otherwise do in an easy manner, you make them hard, and that is what I felt watching them play in the final. Otherwise, these girls are not bad fielders. India, in fact, were one of the better-catching sides,” Raj added.