
New Delhi, Aug 28: Veteran India female cricketer Jhulan Goswami did not watch the third one-day international match between India and Sri Lanka on Sunday (August 27).
She rather chose to be glued to the television sets to watch Pusarla Venkat Sindhu's final match in the World Badminton Championships.
The highest wicket-taker in the women's one-day international cricket history disclosed at the same time that she was not overjoyed even after Virat Kohli-led Indian side clinched the ODI series after defeating Sri Lanka by six wickets.
Jasprit Bumrah’s consistent bowling and Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni's excellent batting effort took India to their seventh successive bilateral series win over Sri Lanka. But this win didn't manage to bring cheer upon Goswami's face.
She was more upset with Sindhu’s defeat against Japan's Nozomi Okuhara in a marathon battle.
Commenting upon Sindhu's defeat, Goswami told MyKhel on Sunday night, “The reason behind my frustration was Sindhu’s superb display. I was thrilled to have watched her play this way in the final game when Sindhu took the lead to 19-17 in the third round. It became so exciting that I even called one of my teammates and told her Sindhu would be able to make the dream true by winning the trophy in Glasgow.
"I became emotional because I was feeling that Sindhu would be able to do what we could not achieve at The Lords. I believe that Sindhu also must have wept out of frustration after returning to her locker room for we did the same in the dressing room after losing in the World Cup final,” she said.
When asked about the factors behind Sindhu’s defeat Jhulan explained, “I feel Sindhu succumbed to the mental pressure in the last moment. Okuhara, however, was able to keep her more relaxed in that time.
That is why the Japanese shuttler was able to execute tricky shots correctly in the deciding moments.”
The former Indian skipper also revealed that she finds similarity between Sindhu and her teammate Harmanpreet Kaur.
“I find a lot of similarity between my teammate Harmanpreet Kaur and Sindhu. Both are extremely aggressive. Both initiate for attacking their opponents immediately after they start playing and both, despite having high potential, lack cool mind. Once these two will be able to control their temperament they will both be unbeatable in their respective fields,” said the cricketer, who was bestowed with ICC Women's Player in 2007.
Jhulan signed off saying, "I am proud to see that today the country was more focused on Sindhu, and not the Indian cricket team. Badminton defeated cricket at least for one night!"