Indian women’s cricket team has faced another defeat against Australia in the second T20I. But it was speedster Shikha Pandey, who stole the limelight with a stunning delivery that saw the dismissal of Alyssa Healy at the Carrara Oval on Saturday.
Having set a target of 119 to chase, Shikha Pandey opened the bowling for India. While the first ball went for a boundary, she dismissed Healy on the very second ball of the innings. It had an incredible movement that deceived Healy, who failed to defend and it dislodged the bails as well.
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Here is the stunning Shikha Pandey delivery:
Unreeeeeeal! 😱 How far did that ball move? #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/D3g7jqRXWK
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) October 9, 2021
However, the video of the delivery went viral in no time and everyone started praising the delivery as well. “Ball of the century, women’s cricket edition! Take a bow Shikha Pandey,” tweeted former India opener, Wasim Jaffer.
Ball of the century, women's cricket edition! Take a bow Shikha Pandey🙌🏻 #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/WjaixlkjIp
— Wasim Jaffer (@WasimJaffer14) October 9, 2021
This is as good as you’ll see from anyone….. unreal indeed!!! 👀 https://t.co/ZD7fNFfth1
— Louise Adams (@louadams257) October 9, 2021
Wow! Amazing! That ball was possessed!! https://t.co/OsmtjsXPR5
— Tinniam V Ganesh (@tvganesh_85) October 9, 2021
Woah!! Ball of the century nomination straightaway https://t.co/A7TDoqN9ng
— Aniket (@_Aniket7) October 9, 2021
Earlier in the day, Australia won the toss and chose to field and they got a perfect start by dismissing three batters of India with just 24 runs on the board. Captain Harmanpreet Kaur tried her best and scored 28 before getting dismissed. Later, they failed to revive until Pooja Vastrakar came in place and mashed 37 off 26 balls as well. They ended up scoring 118/9 from their stipulated 20 overs.
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Tayla Vlaeminck and Sophie Molineux have picked three wickets each for Australia as well before Tahlia McGrath kept her cool and sealed the deal for Australia. With this win, Australia won the multi-format series as well.
After the match, Harmanpreet Kaur said: “We were 20 runs short, but the wicket wasn’t an easy one to bat on. We had a good game. We didn’t give them easy runs. We fought till the end. Would want to take the team to take more responsibility. Pooja has the talent and she gets us runs and wickets whenever we need. That’s what we expect from her. We know Australia side is good. You always need to come out with good plans and a good approach against them.”
