The Indian seamer, Renuka Singh Thakur garnered a lot of limelight on Friday during India’s Commonwealth Games 2022 opener against reigning world champions Australia. Coming to defend a below-par total of 155, she dismissed all four of Australia’s top order wickets, that too inside powerplay, to send their oppositions in disarray early.
Indian women bowlers got off to a dream start in the 2022 Commonwealth Games, which has been taking place in Birmingham. To be precise, it was Renuka Singh Thakur who took most of the limelight after the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side posted 154/8 batting first in the competition’s opener.
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In the opening over, Renuka Singh dismissed the dangerous Alyssa Healy without troubling the scorers to send Australia on the back foot early. Then, in her next over, she outfoxed Meg Lanning and Beth Mooney to continue the attack. Then, in the fifth over, Tahlia McGrath was undone by Renuka as well as Australia’s top four lost their wickets to a single Indian bowler.
Harmanpreet Kaur had no intention of holding back and asked Thakur to complete her magnificent spell within seven overs. She returned excellent figures of 4-0-18-4 to keep her side in the hunt. Meanwhile, Australia reached 100/6 in 13 overs, requiring 55 off the last 42 balls. Eventually, the Aussies won the match by 3 wickets with an over to spare.
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Australia Women (Playing XI): Alyssa Healy (wk), Beth Mooney, Meg Lanning (c), Tahlia McGrath, Rachael Haynes, Ashleigh Gardner, Grace Harris, Jess Jonassen, Alana King, Megan Schutt, Darcie Brown
India Women (Playing XI): Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Yastika Bhatia (wk), Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Harleen Deol, Deepti Sharma, Radha Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Meghna Singh, Renuka SinghBenchSabbhineni
Here is how the cricketing fraternity reacted to the spell from Renuka Singh Thakur:
Renuka Singh Thakur's has to be the greatest international spell by anyone born in Shimla.
Robin Jackman, Neville Tufnell, or Shafaqat Rana never had a spell this good.
— Abhishek Mukherjee (@ovshake42) July 29, 2022
Renuka Singh Thakur, Take a bow. pic.twitter.com/Frruj9rUXG
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) July 29, 2022
– Wicket of Alyssa Healy.
– Wicket of Beth Mooney.
– Wicket of Meg Lanning.
– Wicket of Tahlia McGrath.– All in the Powerplay.
– A spell of 4/18.
– Renuka Singh Thakur! pic.twitter.com/2ZY5A7W7LG— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) July 29, 2022
Renuka singh thakur. What a bowler.🙌. 4-fer, broke the backbone of their chase. pic.twitter.com/KRYX5Omp3w
— `R (@ryandesa_7) July 29, 2022
Dream spell. Yeah, that’s what you call it. Hands down, Renuka Singh Thakur.#CWG2022
— Prajakta (@18prajakta) July 29, 2022
Australia might still win this. But this match where cricket returned to the Commonwealth Games will be remembered as the match where Renuka Singh Thakur, the girl from Shimla, made the world take notice of her. Hope she gets the support of her team, unlike the other pacers.
— Gaurav Nandan Tripathi (@Cric_Beyond_Ent) July 29, 2022
Renuka Singh Thakur 😍😍😍 sensational Spell💪#IndvsAus pic.twitter.com/T97L3Ukd2n
— Jay Kishan Toshniwal (@JayKishanToshn1) July 29, 2022
Me in my head: Getting out all of Healy, Lanning, Mooney and McGrath for a single digit score — who does that?!
Renuka Singh Thakur: Hold my 🍺
What. A. Spell. 🔥
— Samreen (@SamreenRazz) July 29, 2022
well bowled Renuka Singh Thakur.
4 wickets for just 18 runs from 4 overs. pic.twitter.com/RYA9JnNq1d— Aadvik (@thecoolguy03) July 29, 2022
Lord Thakur SUPREMACY .. It's Lady Lord Thakur.
Renuka Singh Thakur🔥
Dream spell !!!@imfemalecricket @BCCIWomen @thebharatarmy #CWG2022 #IndvAus #CricketTwitter pic.twitter.com/R16pkd5Mqu— Sachin B (@imsachin_b) July 29, 2022
