ICC Women's World Cup 2017: Veda Krishnamurthy reveals she was unable to sleep the night after final

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Veda was not able to take the team over the finish line and lost her wicket at a crucial juncture of the chase in the final

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What's the story?

Indian women's cricket team's middle order lynchpin Veda Krishnamurthy recently revealed in an interview that she found it hard to sleep the night after India's loss in the final of the World Cup against England.

Talking to Indian Express, the 24-year-old said, "I was awake the entire night after the loss and couldn't get a wink of sleep. I think I finally managed to close my eyes at 4 am but then got up an hour later and was awake the entire day.

"The whole scenario just kept repeating in my head."

In case you didn't know...

Indian eves, defying all sorts of expectations, drove their way to the final of Women's World Cup earlier this month in England.

Entering the tournament as the fourth-ranked team, the Women in Blue trumped the top three, England, New Zealand and Australia en route to the summit clash.

Veda, who was handed the job of finishing the innings, had an above par tournament where she scored 153 runs in six innings, at an average of 30.60 and a healthy strike-rate of 112.50.

The heart of the matter

After making their way to the final, the Indian team did well to restrict the eventual champions England on 228. The chase was going according to the plan as well, despite a late hiccup, with Veda and Deepti Sharma on the crease and India needing another 29 runs in 33 deliveries.

However, Veda then lost her wicket to a rash shot after scoring a 34-ball-35 and subsequently, the team succumbed and fell short by nine runs.

The Karnataka-based player then, unfortunately, was made the scapegoat for India's loss in the final. Therefore it is but natural for a cricketer, who is not used to the limelight, to lose his/her sleep.

Veda further added in the interview that there were a lot of tears in the dressing room and her teammates were highly disappointed and heartbroken after the loss. However, she was fast to add that the team will learn a lot from this loss and it will help them evolve into better players.

What's next?

Not just for Veda, but the Indian team as a whole, this run to the final will help them make a name for themselves in a sport which has been male-centric for a long time, at least in India.

The women players have found it hard to make ends meet in the past, and hopefully, this run to the final will bring a welcome change.

Author's Take

Veda was not able to take the team over the finish line and lost her wicket at a crucial juncture of the chase in the final which saw her face a lot of criticism. However, the fact that she, along with the core of the team, is still young and has a lot of time on her hands, this defeat should be taken as a learning curve on the path to greatness.

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