Four no-balls in crucial games by Team India that broke a billion hearts
Team India's hopes of reaching the semi-finals of the 2022 ICC Women's Cricket World Cup were crushed on Saturday after their defeat to South Africa. The most dramatic moment of the match came when Deepti Sharma overstepped on the penultimate ball of the match when the batting side needed 3 runs off 2 balls.
Players and fans were left heartbroken as India were knocked out of the tournament from the group stage. Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami finished their illustrious World Cup careers without a trophy.
That No Ball will haunt Deepti Sharma and Team India
#CWC22 #INDvSA #TeamIndia https://t.co/6OeYLtqz1V
Over the last six years, this is the fourth instance where a no-ball has resulted in delivering an eventual knockout punch to Team India. Let's look at all these devastating transgressions from Indian bowlers, both male and female.
#1 Ravichandran Ashwin vs West Indies in semi-final of World T20 2016
Ravichandran Ashwin was heavily criticized in the media for bowling a no-ball in the 2016 WT20 semi-final. The reason for the anguish was that he had Lendl Simmons caught on this ball, when he was batting on 15.
Jasprit Bumrah pulled off a miraculous catch at short third-man. But once the umpire signaled it as a no-ball after getting the confirmation, the mood in the Indian camp changed completely. Simmons went on to play a match-winning innings that knocked India out of the World T20, which they were favorites to win.
#2 Jasprit Bumrah vs Pakistan in Final of Champions Trophy 2017
Jasprit Bumrah's no-ball in the Final of the Champions Trophy 2017 was the turning point of the match. Pakistan opener Fakhar Zaman received an early reprieve in the 2017 CT final after he was caught behind but survived because Bumrah had overstepped.
Zaman went on to score a classic century and helped Pakistan reach a massive total. While chasing, Team India lost wickets in a heap early on and could never recover. Pakistan won the Final by a huge margin and defeated the tournament favorites.
Third Over | 1st Ball | Bumrah to Fakhar Zaman
Got him, nicked to the keeper! No! Bumrah bowled a NO-BALL! Fakhar Zaman comes back for another crack. The look of shock on everyone!
What was your reaction?
#UnitedWeWin #PlayLikeASheru #RoadToChampionsTrophy #CT17 https://t.co/MJh9GZa1aW
#3 Jhulan Goswami vs Australia, 2021
Team India toured Australia in 2021 for a multi-format series. Meg Lanning's mighty Aussies had an unbeaten winning streak of 25 victories in ODIs. They had last lost a game in this format in October 2017.
Chasing 275, Australia needed 3 runs to win off the last delivery and the experienced Jhulan Goswami had the ball in her hand. Nicola Carey hit the full toss straight to the fielder and Indian players started celebrating. They thought they had ended the greatest winning streak in ODI cricket.
However, after seeing multiple replays, the third umpire deemed the full-toss to have been above waist-high, hence, a no-ball, resulting in heartbreak. India lost the match and the streak lived on.
UMPIRE SAYS YES twitter.com/cricketcomau/s…
#4 Deepti Sharma vs South Africa at Women's World Cup 2022
The final league match of the ICC Women's World Cup was a virtual quarter-final for Team India as they had to beat South Africa to reach the semi-finals. Team India batted first and scored 274/7 in 50 overs.
With 7 needed off 6 balls, Deepti Sharma was given the final over. It came down to 3 off 2 balls when Deepti lured Mignon du Preez into playing a lofted shot to long-on and Harmanpreet Kaur took an easy catch.
Much to the horror of Team India and their millions of fans, it was declared a no-ball. India eventually bowed out of the World Cup, heartbroken.