Here’s How A No-Ball Broke Millions Of Dreams

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Unnati Madan

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World Cup 2022: The Indian women’s team almost did it, they almost reached the final, however, a disappointing end crushed the hopes of the millions of fans across the world.

Well, after blowing hot and cold throughout the tournament, the Indian cricket team needed only a win in the final league game of the ICC Women’s World Cup 2022 against South Africa at Hagley Oval on Sunday to make it to the semis.

The last-ball defeat in this must-win game for India tells how they fought till the end of the game, however, it was just not enough.

Coming out to bat first, the Indian side rode the fifties from Smriti Mandhana (71), Shafali Verma (53) and Raj (68), and 48 from Harmanpreet Kaur to post a respectable total of 274/7.

Later, while defending 275, Team India was in a spot of bother after Lara Goodall and Laura Wolvaardt gave a good start to South Africa on their way in the chase. Indian spinners — Deepti Sharma, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, and Harmanpreet Kaur fought hard as they gave tough competition with the ball. However, South Africa survived some shaky moments to chase down the target in the last ball thriller.

Meanwhile, at the end of the day, it was just a no-ball that cost team India that resulting in the gut-wrenching loss by the hands of Proteas. Well, in the final over, South Africa needed seven runs and Shabnim Ismail and Mignon du Preez were at the crease. Eventually, the equation came down to three off two balls.

On the penultimate delivery, Du Preez was dismissed by Deepti Sharma as the former handed a simple catch to Harmanpreet Kaur long-on. However, things turned out into pure horror for the Indian players as the umpire signaled a no-ball. In the replays, it was shown that Deepti had overstepped the margin, which meant that Du Preez came back to the middle. Du Preez hit the winning runs to break Indian hearts.

While the Indian players were visibly distraught after the defeat, fans on social media were left heartbroken. Several experts and cricketers also took to Twitter and reacted to India’s ouster from the World Cup.

Here, check out the reactions of Twitterati to this:

Also Read: IPL 2022: Ravi Shastri Gave A ‘One-Line’ Advice To Hardik Pandya

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