It is unusual for a player to take the blame for a team’s defeat, as Smriti Mandhana did after India’s loss to England in the Women’s World Cup. A defeat by a small margin, four runs in this case, always sets off speculation on where those runs might have come from in the course of an innings. Ignored singles? Missed boundary? Luck?

Mandhana made 88 in 94 balls. When she was fourth out in the 42nd over, India were still sitting pretty. They needed 55 in 53 balls, and with wickets in hand that was a comfortable target.

Then things went haywire. The team’s confidence seemed to ooze out or turn into overconfidence. “We could have done with better shot selection,” admitted Mandhana, “It started from me, so I will take it on myself…” About being caught at long off, she said, significantly, “The emotions took over for that one…”

That is understandable. Emotions are part of sport. There are two ways to handle these — either by controlling them and........

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