It was the 16th over of India's chase against Pakistan. They had just lost the wickets of Jemimah Rodrigues and Richa Ghosh off consecutive deliveries to Fatima Sana. India were four down, but there was no imminent danger of losing, even though the equation had turned into a slightly tricky 26 off 27 balls.
Having not even threatened to get out of second gear, this was India's opportunity to be braver. They had brought in the big-hitting S Sajana to replace Pooja Vastrakar - who was carrying a niggle - in the XI. It made sense.
While Sajana can offer two-three overs with the ball, it's her big-hitting, like in the WPL 2024 opener when she hit a last-ball six to win a thriller, that had gotten her the World Cup ticket.
Two boundaries at that stage could have killed off the game, accelerating India's push for victory to somewhat help their net run-rate. It was the time to unleash Sajana. Instead, it was Deepti Sharma who walked out at No. 6 to join Harmanpreet Kaur.
Deepti milked four singles and a two off seven deliveries. Even with three runs needed off 11 balls, she employed her tried-and-tested half-sweep/nudge with two fielders back to pick up a single. Sajana did come in and whacked her first ball to the cover boundary to close out the game, a ball after Harmanpreet had retired hurt with a sprained neck.
This safety-first approach wasn't just down to India losing a clutch of wickets. It was the overarching theme of their small run chase. India didn't hit a single boundary in the powerplay; in fact, they only attempted three aggressive responses in the first six overs. Were they cautious because their barnstorming approach had caused much distress against New Zealand? Or was the surface playing tricks?
Fair, the heat will make pitches drier than usual, but that's a given. And the absence of dew - whether at training or in their first night game - has largely negated the win-toss-win-match scenario that had made the men's T20 World Cup in 2021, also played here, utterly predictable. And on Sunday evening, shortly after India scrapped home, West Indies razed down Scotland's 99 with 50 balls to spare.
Smriti Mandhana admitted India could have approached the chase differently. "A better start with the bat would have been good, but we will take that win," she said at the post-match presentation. "We did think about it [NRR]. Me and Shafali [Verma] could not time the ball [in the powerplay]. We didn't want to end up losing a lot of wickets. We were a little calculative. The net run-rate is in our head. Sri Lanka [who India play next] have been playing good cricket, but this game will give us the momentum."
Momentum is very subjective. India's 58-run defeat against New Zealand and their second- and third-gear approach against Pakistan, even though they got two points, have put them in a precarious position. And making up for lost ground against Sri Lanka, who they lost to at the Women's Asia Cup final, is far from a given.
But, even if they do beat Sri Lanka, India will be left tempting fate.
As if playing Australia in a knockout isn't tough enough, India might face a scenario of having to beat them by a certain margin to qualify. Unless New Zealand do India a favour by beating Australia on Tuesday, hoping for that halfway into their group-stage campaign isn't a great position to be in. But it's one India have brought upon themselves.
Run rates aside, India's catching and batting order, especially over the No. 3 spot, have been under sharp scrutiny. Harmanpreet, who was all but confirmed for the No. 3 role prior to India's campaign by head coach Amol Muzumdar, was replaced by Rodrigues against Pakistan. And now Harmanpreet has a neck spasm. If they need to bring in a new batter, Yastika Bhatia is the obvious replacement. The only issue around Yastika, though, is the lack of match time recently. She is coming off a long injury layoff and wasn't part of the shadow tour of Australia nor the first two warm-ups. To suddenly throw her in at the deep end could mean a massive shake-up.
How they bring out their A game while grappling with a number of niggling issues will make for interesting viewing. This much is sure: they are not looking like a champion team at all.
Harmanpreet has spoken of wanting to emulate Rohit Sharma's team. After India's semi-final exit at the 2022 T20 World Cup, Rohit had banished the notion of converting middling chases into tricky ones, like India did on Sunday.
Rohit laid down the marker with an intent-laden approach that the entire team bought into, culminating in their inspired run to the 2023 ODI World Cup final, and later to the T20 World Cup title this June. How much of that has been discussed by Harmanpreet & Co, we don't know, but it's an approach they would do well to adopt before it is too late. And for that, the captain will need to lead from the front. Like Rohit.