Harmanpreet Kaur's India merciless after devastating loss to NZ, face harsh online criticism for old BCCI tweet

In a surprising turn of events, the highly touted Indian women's cricket team suffered a shocking defeat in their T20 World Cup opener in Dubai. New Zealand, who had been on a 10-match losing streak, managed to clinch a convincing 58-run victory in their Group A match against India. This unexpected loss has put India's chances of advancing to the semifinals in jeopardy, leading to widespread criticism on social media. Fans have been mercilessly trolling the team, particularly captain Harmanpreet Kaur, and pointing out an old BCCI tweet that has come back to haunt the team.

Back in 2022, the Board of Control for Cricket in India had announced equal match fees for both Indian men's and women's cricketers, which was a milestone step by the board. "The BCCI Women cricketers will be paid the same match fee as their male counterparts. Test (INR 15 lakhs), ODI (INR 6 lakhs), T20I (INR 3 lakhs). Pay equity was my commitment to our women cricketers and I thank the Apex Council for their support. Jai Hind," BCCI secretary Jay Shah had tweeted.

However, in the wake of the 58-run loss against New Zealand, where India were outplayed in all departments, fans recalled that BCCI tweet and took a dig at the women's team over the amount of money that they earned.

The 2020 runners-up never turned up for the match. Invited to bowl first in Dubai, India looked out of sorts with their plans, and matters turned worse amid their poor fielding. The New Zealand openers raced away to a fifty-run stand inside the powerplay, before captain Sophie Devine led the innings in the back end with her unbeaten 57 that helped the side set up a 161-run target.

In response, India batters failed to get going, with none of them managing to score even more than 15. India were eventually folded for just 102 runs with an over to spare.

The loss left India's chances of making the semifinal in a precarious spot. Not only do they now have to beat both Sri Lanka and Pakistan by heavy margin to get their net run rate back on track, they will also have to fancy their chances against defending champions Australia, who them have beaten just twice in six World Cup encounters.

"Today would be the game we would like to forget, because this is a World Cup," Jemimah Rodrigues said in the post-match conference. "We need to keep moving on and keep picking ourselves up. We can't stay stuck at this game. We need to pick ourselves up, and I think that will show the character of this team.

"We know every game from here is so crucial for us. We know that, but at the same time, we're going to go one game at a time and just make sure we stick to our process and do our job well. If we can do that, I think we play our best cricket, I think we can win matches."