New Delhi: Harmanpreet Kaur became the talk of the nation as she hit an unbeaten 171-run knock of 115 balls which included 20 fours and seven sixes in the 2017 ICC Women's World Cup semi-final against Australia on Thursday at Derby, England.
Her knock helped India knockout six time world champions Australia in an emphatic Semi final performance.
The 28-year-old Punjabi girl’s innings was one filled with loads of emotions as a woman showed the world how to play the gentlemen’s game.
Going for a double in the 35th over, Harmanpreet was involved in a huge mix-up with her partner Deepti Sharma, who was exposed at the non-striker's end. Both the batswomen made their respective grounds, but Harmanpreet was livid, and reacted rather strongly by throwing off her helmet and shouting at her. Her action made Deepti shed a few drops of tear.
"Of course, it was heat of the moment and I said sorry to her because I didn't wanted to lose my wicket at that moment and I didn’'t want to lose her wicket too, I got a little bit angry but we are fine now." said Harmanpreet after her blitzkrieg heroics in the first innings.
"I just told her to rotate the strike, you don't have to take the pressure, I was hitting the ball well and I told her to give me the strike and I will take the responsibility and she did a great job."
The reaction clearly justified that a century was the last thing on her mind as she paved a way through for India to defeat all time favorites Australia.
The innings could well be termed as one of the best innings in the limited overs cricket. This is also the second highest individual score in ODIs for India behind Deepti Sharma's 188 not out against Ireland earlier this year.