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India unable to handle pressure of big finals: Kala

YB WEB DESK. Dated: 7/11/2020 11:34:49 AM

New Delhi, July 10 Outgoing national women's team chief selector Hemlata Kala says the inability to handle pressure in big finals has kept the side away from a major ICC trophy although she believes that Harmanpreet Kaur is still the best person to lead India. Kala, who represented in 78 ODIs and seven Tests, was appointed as a selector in 2015 before she became the panel chief in 2016. "Players have to be ready to play the big games but they were not despite having a good mix of youth and experience. The batting failure also cost us. Maybe, they were under pressure," Kala said in an exclusive interview recalling the 2020 T20 World Cup campaign. Kala's term as head of the selection committee has been a golden phase in women's cricket. India reached the 2017 World Cup final, a landmark moment for women's cricket in the country and undoubtedly "the biggest high" of her tenure. The low point was loss to Bangladesh in 2018 Asia Cup final. What went wrong in 2017 ODI World Cup final and 2018 World T20 semifinals? "In 2017, it was a massive batting collapse too. We were 191 for three, chasing 229 but we were not able to. There was no reason to panic but we did. "We beat Australia in the semifinals with Harmanpreet playing a blinder and we also beat in the league of World T20 next year," said Kala. While pressure remains a factor, Kala believes in this current lot which she feels can beat England .