NEW DELHI: India captain Harmanpreet Kaur was beaming with pride but quick to remind everyone that the job isn’t done yet, as her side stormed into the Women’s ODI World Cup final with a thrilling five-wicket win over defending champions Australia in Navi Mumbai on Thursday.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!A record-breaking chase of 339 — the highest ever in Women’s World Cup history — took India past the semifinal hurdle that had haunted them in the past. Harmanpreet, who scored a fluent 89 off 88 balls and shared a 167-run stand with centurion Jemimah Rodrigues (127 off 134 balls), said her team’s eyes were already fixed on the final.
“Very proud. I don’t have words to express myself. Feeling great — this time we have crossed that line which we have been working towards for so many years,” said Harmanpreet at the post-match presentation.“One more game to go. Today, we all played well, happy with the result. But we have already started speaking about the next game — that shows how focused we are and how keen we are to win the World Cup.”
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The Indian skipper said playing a home World Cup made the moment extra special.“Playing in a home World Cup is special, and we want to give back to our fans and families. One more game to go and we will give our best,” she added.Harmanpreet lavished praise on Rodrigues, calling her innings one of maturity and composure.“She (Rodrigues) is someone who always wants to do well for the team — very calculative and wants to take responsibility. We always trust her,” Harmanpreet said.“Whenever we were batting, we complemented each other. She was always calculating, telling me we got five runs, seven runs, two balls left — that shows how involved she was. Lots of credit to her for holding her nerve.”Reflecting on the narrow four-run defeat to England earlier in the tournament, Harmanpreet said the lessons from that match were crucial.“That day we realised we didn’t execute well. We were late by two-three overs and could’ve taken risks earlier — that cost us. Today, we wanted to be calculative and finish it before the 50th over,” she said.
