India suffered a heartbreaking defeat to Australia in the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2024 clash against Australia. India needed a win at any costs against Australia and following the defeat, they are left on the verge of elimination. If India indeed makes an early exit, it will be the first time since 2016 that the Women in Blue will fail to make it to the semifinals.


As far as India's Group A clash against Australia is concerned, Australia posted 151/8 in Sharjah in this match. In response, India did remain in the hunt with captain Harmanpreet Kaur holding the innings together for India after Shafali Verma's 13-ball 21 at the top but her 54* off 47 proved insufficient as India lost by 9 runs.


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After the match, cricketer-turned-commentator Sanjay Manjrekar made a strange remark which has not gone down too well with fans online. He praised India despite the team's defeat.


"No other team other than India would have come so close to the big target Aus set on a difficult pitch. I say, well done India!  And again what a star Harman is," the 59-year-old said, a remark which has attracted some criticism and social media trolling.


Take a look at his post and some of the comments underneath:


 






















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India Hoping For Pakistan To Beat New Zealand


Meanwhile, India's only hope of securing a place in the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2024 semifinal is Pakistan's win over New Zealand. by a good margin. A mere win from Pakistan will also not be sufficient for India to proceed to the knockouts as they also need to ensure White Ferns' Net Run Rate (NRR) gets worse than them and they remain tied on points.