Harry’s six, Jemimah’s run out, Mithali’s deftness, Smriti’s best – India’s top moments from World T20

Women’s CricZone looks back at a few of them.

Match 1: Beat New Zealand by 34 runs

The six that got India going

India had lost three wickets before the end of the Power Play overs when Harmanpreet Kaur, the captain, took guard. Another slip and the decision to bat first would have looked silly. Harmanpreet was on 5 off 12 balls, and India had 60 runs on the board with 11 overs to go. It was time to shift gears.

Harmanpreet tried to work the first ball of Jess Watkin’s new over to the legside for a single, but did not succeed. As luck would have it, the next ball from the offspinner was a full toss and Harmanpreet came down the track to dispatch it over the midwicket fence. She finished the over with another six on her way to become India’s first T20I centurion. Her 53-ball 101, which included eight sixes and seven fours, and a stand of 134 with Jemimah Rodrigues brought the tournament to life on the opening day.

India ended up hitting 19 sixes in the tournament when their overall count in the previous five editions was 13.

More merry for Poonam

Suzie Bates was looking in omnious touch, but needed support to tackle India’s spinners in a tall chase. Her hopes were squashed in the tenth over when Poonam Yadav, the legspinner, picked up two wickets in two balls. New Zealand fell short by 34 runs.

Through the tournament Poonam, India’s highest wicket-taker in T20Is, used all the deliveries in her armoury well, and led the spin department’s plan of bowling outside the off stump without much pace to force the batters to manufacture shots on the legside. She used the crease well also and varied her speed between 50kmph and 75kmph. The ploy worked in all games except for against England.

Poonam was India’s best bowler with eight wickets. She now has 35 wickets in 2018 – the most by any bowler in the format in a calendar year.

Match 2: Beat Pakistan by seven wickets

A pick up and throw to remember

India’s World T20 encounters against Pakistan have always been banana skin affairs, and it was important to seize early advantage after deciding to field first.

Pakistan lost their first wicket in the first over, and were looking to stabilise through Javeria Khan and Umaima Sohail. The plan was to look for singles instead of trying to hit boundaries against the spinners.

Sohail tapped Radha Yadav to point and was a bit hesitant before commiting. Rodrigues, always electric on the field, grabbed on that moment of indecisiveness to pick up the ball in one hand and produce a direct hit. It helped that the ball came to her at a good bounce. India would drop five catches in that innings, but that run out was one of the many stellar efforts on the field through the tournament.

Veda Krishnamurthy took four catches against Australia – the most by any fielder in a T20I along with England’s Lydia Greenway. In the same game, Radha took possibly one of the catches of the tournament. Taniya Bhatia has the most dismissals in the competition before the start of the final.

Match 3: Beat Ireland by 52 runs

Mithali’s deftness comes to the fore

Put into bat on a sticky surface after rain had delayed the start by six minutes, Mithali brought out her experience to make a gritty 56-ball 51 even as the middle-order struggled to adapt to the conditions.

Her deftness was the striking feature in that innings, and it was most prominent in the way she delicately guided two deliveries from Kim Garth, the right-arm medium pacer, to the third-man fence in a space of few deliveries.

Mithali had taken time to get used to Eimear Richardson, the offspinner, and had been dropped once off her bowling. Her first real touch shot came in the sixth over when a cover drive off Lara Maritz got Lisa Sthalekar excited on air. But the way she waited till the last moment to change the direction of Garth’s deliveries was pure class. Garth was frustrated, asking Celeste Raack to get finer at short third-man.Laura Delany, the Irish skipper, instead sent Raack to the fence, hence disallowing Mithali to exploit that area for the remainder of the innings.

Mithali consecutive half-centuries took her tally to 17 – the third-most by any batter in the format – as India made it to the World T20 semifinals for the first time in eight years. She was yet again the player of the match, like against Pakistan – her fifth in T20Is this year. As it turned out, it was her last outing in the tournament.

Match 4: Beat Australia by 48 runs

Mandhana joins the party

Right from the first match Mandhana had shown glimpses of being in touch, but lack of pace off the surface had not allowed her to open up in a way that she usually does.

Everything fell in place against Australia on a pacy surface that both the teams had not played on earlier. That she was in for a big one became evident in the sixth over when she hit an overpitched delivery from Megan Schutt bowled at 105kmph for a straight six, and then stayed back in the crease anticipating a shorter ball to guide it to the point fence. She had first used the ploy against for a six and a four against Sophie Molineux, the left-arm spinner, in the previous over.

Mandhana, lucky to have survived a leg before wicket decision after Veda urged her to take the Decision Review System, finished with a career-best 55-ball 83 – her first half-century in 13 innings - as India posted 167 for 8.

Her regained confidence came through in the semifinal against England where she took charge with a 23-ball 34, but got out to a half-checked shot off the last ball of the Power Play.