India were knocked out of the FIH Women's World Cup after a 0-0 draw against Australia in Amstelveen on Sunday evening.
In the end, India, Australia and China all finished on two points each, with China having a -3 goal difference, and India and Australia on -2. The difference was that India scored two goals and Australia three. That is all it came down to, one goal. But those are the margins in elite sport, and those margins have knocked India out of this World Cup.
Coming into the game, India knew that they had to win to qualify, no other result would cut it. They almost conceded straightaway in the second minute, after the onfield umpires allowed the goal to stand despite it hitting Jyoti on the stomach and deflecting in. India took their referral, and had the goal ruled out.
Australia were the team stringing the better moves together, but they weren't really threatening either Savita Punia or Bichu Devi in the Indian goal, as their shots were coming from tight angles and improbable distances. And when they had penalty corners, Salima Tete's first-rushing was quite outstanding.
India will look back on two big moments, one each at the end of the second and third quarter respectively. First, Nikki Pradhan had a golden opportunity with seconds to go for half-time, but fluffed her lines from close-range, after a penalty corner variation. At the end of the third quarter, India's best attacking move of the game saw Navneet Kaur and Baljeet Kaur combine down the right flank, before the latter's cut-back from the baseline found Deepika Sehrawat in the circle. But once again, composure deserted India at the crucial moment, as Deepika snatched at the chance and hit just fresh air.
In the fourth quarter, India took their goalkeeper off to put an extra outfield player on the pitch, but that didn't make a difference, as they just couldn't display the quality needed to string attacking moves together.
India will now play for fifth and sixth place in the classification games. Either way, it will be India's second-best finish at a Women's World Cup ever. That is a sign of progress, but the margins that went against India will be part of a learning curve for this team. Sjoerd Marijne's Indian team is here to stay, provided they take the lessons from this World Cup, and get even better.
You can relive the action, as it happened, in our live blog below: