Harmanpreet Kaur was out of breath in the sapping heat and humidity of Sharjah. India's 2024 T20 World Cup campaign was on the line and she had brought them within 14 runs with one over to go. But she was reduced to being a spectator at the non-striker's end as India lost four wickets and fell nine short of their target.
Despite Harmanpreet's unbeaten 54, India were knocked out of the league stage. It was the fourth game in a row against Australia in a multi-nation tournament where she had crossed 50 but India lost the match.
Harmanpreet's currently playing her fifth T20 World Cup as captain and tenth as a player, as another crunch game against Australia, her favourite opposition, awaits. For a change, her numbers in this tournament are far from flattering: 85 runs from four innings at an average of 28.33. But the most worrying stat is her strike rate of 106.25, far below the standards she has set for herself. That her dismissals have been part of India's middle-order collapses has made it even worse.
But reducing Harmanpreet's contributions to mere numbers would be missing the larger picture. In T20Is, she is India's most important middle-order batter, the lynchpin who has instilled belief in this line-up - starting with her epic 171 not out in 2017, although in an ODI World Cup - that Australia are not invincible. While her T20I half-centuries against them in the last few years have come in losses, they showed India didn't always need miracles to compete with Australia. Even though Australia proved repeatedly that they were better than anyone at winning the key moments, Harmanpreet helped India shed the tag of underdogs.
As Sunday's match approaches, India will be aware that they can make up for the failure of an opening batter or a key bowler but not so much of their captain, who has time and again seized the momentum in the middle overs. Her recent dismissals don't show a pattern, but they reflect a lack of rhythm. It's quite likely that when she walks out to bat on Sunday, she will be searching for that rhythm for the first few balls to settle her nerves in front of a packed house at Lord's. Australia will know better than anyone that a settled Harmanpreet can take off in such a way that they could force them to change field, alter bowling plans and forget about the match-ups against her.
"I think everyone is itching to score runs tomorrow and win against Australia," Smriti Mandhana said when asked about Harmanpreet's role against Australia. "I would not like to name one player. I think everyone in the batting unit is itching to go. We've been speaking a lot in the batting meeting about how we really want to go out there and bat with intent. Yeah, it's not happened as much as we would have loved to, but having said that, we all are really itching to go out there tomorrow and bat."
Harmanpreet may or may not have said it publicly, but Australia also bring the best out of her. If there's one team against whom she can snap out of a slump at the blink of an eye, it's Australia. If there's one India player who lifts her game as the stakes go higher, it's Harmanpreet. She is a character who fights fire with fire and somehow brings out her best when India's back is against the wall. She is a rare breed who finds catharsis in a crisis.
It is because of their stuttering middle order that perhaps India need Harmanpreet to fire more than ever. As she finished her session of range-hitting in the middle on Saturday evening, Harmanpreet took off her pads, put on her shades and wielded her bat like a weapon on her shoulder while walking like a boss towards her team-mates, a body language that belied her form or India's run in the last fortnight.
The Indian fans who are again expected to turn up in large numbers on Sunday will hope she does what she usually does against Australia in another blockbuster clash, and that this time India don't run out of breath.