Dejected Indian players at the CWG 2022 medal ceremony
"For the love of God, please don't bottle this. Don't do an encore of 23 July 2017," prayed our collective conscience as Harmanpreet Kaur and Jemimah Rodrigues were creaming the Aussie bowlers and reducing the distance between them and the coveted CWG Gold medal this past Sunday.
If one looks at India's performance in isolation, winning the prestigious Silver medal in their maiden CWG appearance is still an historic achievement. But, not, if one considers the events of last five years.
On 23/07/17, India were 3-191 in the 43rd over of their innings in response to England's 228. The distance between them and the WC title was just 37 runs.
They went on to lose 7-28 to inflict a scar on themselves and their fans that would come back to haunt them in years to follow.
Five years, 3 knockout defeats and multiple bottlings later, this past Sunday, those scars reared their head at the worst possible time. This time, India did manage to score 6 more runs, albeit at the cost of an extra wicket, to go from 2-118 to 10-152 and squander another chance to claim glory.
 "Yash Mittal")
