From the brink of exit to pulling off a record chase

Who would have thought that India, of all teams, would pull off the biggest run chase in the history of ODI women's cricket? That they would do it in a World Cup semifinal. That they would achieve it against Australia - serial tournament winners with an intimidating record.

- Rasesh Mandani

On the scale of victories and losses, India's tournament run has been chequered. So pin it down to the enormity of what they achieved on Thursday night here but Harmanpreet Kaur's team will believe they have got the monkey off their back.

When the fear of failure creeps into an individual, it can seemingly never go away. The South African men's cricket team, for instance, has been branded chokers for decades across teams and generations.

India's women cricketers have had their own share of troubled past with run chases - the 2017 ODI World Cup final, the 2022 Commonwealth Games final, the 2023 T20 World Cup semifinal. Why go that far back? Just 10 days ago, Harmanpreet's team crumbled under pressure against England at Indore, leaving their Cup aspirations on the edge.