Victories for Indian Women and Men’s cricket teams
By Kersi Meher-Homji
Indian cricket is at its all-time high; be it in Tests, One-Day Internationals or Twenty20 Internationals (T20I). India’s women’s team under Harmanpreet Kaur is following the winning ways of men’s team under Virat Kohli.
This week Kohli’s Invincibles are converting certain defeats into miracle victories. Just like in Hamilton against New Zealand three days ago, the T20I at Wellington yesterday also resulted in a tie and a super over which India won to lead the 5 match series 4-0. Both these matches were in New Zealand’s hands but India came from nowhere to triumph. Sheer magic.
Tri-nation T20 series between Indian, England and Australia women
A few hours before the Wellington super win, Indian women defeated England women at Canberra in a tri-nation T20 series between India, Australia and England.
In the first match of this series, England totaled 7 for 147, skipper Heather Knight top scoring with 67. India needed six runs in the final over. Not panicking, India’s captain Harmanpreet Kaur hit a six and India won by five wickets with three balls in hand.
In this series Australian, Indian and England women will meet each other from today to next Sunday. The two top teams will contest the Final at Melbourne on 12th February.
Another tie and another super over as the Kiwis press panic button again!
Call it an action replay. Was I watching a replay of the Hamilton thriller of Wednesday or a live match at Wellington on Friday, I asked myself.
No, it was live, despite the amazing similarities between the two heart-stopping chillers. New Zealand panicked again to lose a match they had in hand. They needed only seven runs to win in the final over with seven wickets in hand. The two batsmen in the middle were top-scorer Tim Seifert on 57 and the experienced Ross Taylor on 24.
No way, they can lose, I told myself. It’s child play. But they did as they lost four wickets while scoring six runs. Another tie, due to medium-pacer Shardul Thakur’s economical final over.
In the super over, New Zealand hit 14 runs. Opener Lokesh Rahul hit a six off the first ball and Kohli hit a four off the fifth ball and India won again. Yes, again! Thakur was adjudged Man of the Match.
For India to win despite resting their Hamilton match heroes Rohit Sharma and Mohammad Shami was all the more meritorious.
Where Kohli is, can victory be far behind? Will they triumph 5-0 with a win in the last match Maunganui tomorrow?
“There’s something new I’ve learnt in the last couple of games, which is: when the opposition is playing that well, you’ve just got to stay calm in the game, observe what’s happening and if an opportunity comes your way, you capitalise on it and try and make the most of it,” Kohli told Star Sports after the match.
“What happened in the last two games is unbelievable, being involved in the game and from the fans’ point of view as well. You couldn’t have asked for more two exciting T20s back-two-back. We had never played Super Overs before these two games and now we’ve played two back to back. It feels good when you’re out of the game, and then you come back”¦ it shows the character of the team.”
Now no one can say India wins only at home. Currently they are tigers overseas as well.
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