Harmanpreet Kaur was left heartbroken after her bizarre and match-changing run out in the Women’s T20 World Cup semi-final against Australia. Alyssa Healy, who snapped off the bails to send the India captain back, doesn’t think it was bad luck which hurt Harmanpreet, rather it was lack of “genuine effort”.

With India well on course in their chase in that semi-final, Harmanpreet’s bat got stuck on the ground while trying to complete a second run in the 15th over. An alert Alyssa did the rest. India eventually suffered an agonising five-run defeat.

“...just a bizarre play, and, I mean, Harmanpreet can say all she likes that it was so unlucky, but I mean at the end of the day she cruised back and probably could have been past the crease, you know, an extra two metres if she genuinely put in the effort. So we’ll take it,” Alyssa said in a video posted by ABC Sport on Twitter on Sunday.

After the game a tearful Harmanpreet had said “can’t feel unluckier than this.” But Alyssa feels otherwise.

“You could say you’re unlucky all your life, but it’s generally about effort and energy at that moment in time. And I know that’s something we speak about in the field in particular, putting in that effort and putting in that energy,” Alyssa said.

“That comes back to running between wickets as well. It’s doing those little basics better than the opposition and that’s how you win big tournaments. And I feel like we’ve been doing that quite well,” she added.

She also revealed that she usually doesn’t take the bails off when she realises that the runner would be home easily, but chose to act differently inHarmanpreet’s case.

Australia defeated hosts South Africa by 19 runs on Sunday to claim their sixth Women’s T20 World Cup crown. Alyssa scored 18 and had a hand in two run outs in the summit showdown.

Written with inputs from PTI