We could not sleep after loss: Jhulan Goswami

KOLKATA: It was a night without end for India’s Women in Blue as they tried to come to terms with the heart-breaking loss in the World Cup final at Lord’s on Sunday. Sleep was hard to come by as they thought about what could have been.
“It’s heart-breaking and we need to come out of this phase. I could not sleep last night, in fact none of us could. We stayed put in the dressing room long after the presentation ceremony was over and got back to our hotel rooms late,” senior pro Jhulan Goswami told TOI on Monday morning.“I really don’t want to look back and analyse the final. It’s too painful.”
The 229-run target set by England wasn’t going to be an easy one for India. Despite a brave fight the Indian girls went down by nine runs. “When you play a game of this standard you need to execute your plans better. We failed to do that, especially while batting. Analysing the match will not bring back the lost moment,” said Jhulan, still hurting from the defeat - her second in a World Cup final.
It was 34-year-old Jhulan’s - playing in her fourth, and probably her last World Cup - who brought India back into the match with a double strike in her seventh over, the 33rd of the England innings. She had Sarah Taylor caught down the leg side by wicketkeeper Sushma Verma to end a threatening 83-run partnership with Natalie Sciver. Jhulan followed it up with a pin-point yorker that trapped Fran Wilson plumb in front of the stumps.
She also added Sciver’s scalp to her kitty (3/23) with the first ball off her ninth over to put the brakes on the England innings. “My job was to get the early breakthroughs. In my first spell, I found that the ball was keeping low and was not carrying to the wicketkeeper. So, I tried to bowl a tight line. When I came on to bowl my second spell, it was drizzling and I couldn’t grip the ball properly. I tried to hit the right length and it paid dividends,” said Jhulan.
“We cannot bring back what’s gone. It’s time to look ahead. I am extremely proud of the girls and the way we played in the tournament,” said Jhulan.