How to spoil a party - the Indian Women way
Right on the verge of play kicking-off at the Sydney Showground Stadium on Friday, there was a picture that perfectly captured the moment. There were floodlights, flashlights and firecrackers, the backdrop of which was a dazzling view, as the country geared up to host its first ever T20 World Cup.
As the players of both sides strode out to the middle, the mood in the ground was that of a party, one that the country of Australia had waited long to host. As the national anthems of the two countries played, there were people in the crowd belting out âAdvance Australia Fairâ, the national anthem of Australia, on the top of their voices with utmost passion, almost in an attempt to intimidate the Indian players. Once the anthems were over and done with, a loud roar erupted, almost symbolically representing that the party had officially begun. But the record crowd of 13,432 people in Sydney had little idea that the Women in Blue were not out there to be good guests and enjoy the party, but rather, to instead spoil it.Â
There were warning signs of the same as early as the third over. The Aussie crowd might have to wait for 17 more days to see Katy Perry perform âFireworkâ at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in the closing ceremony of the tournament, but they got a glimpse of what it could potentially feel like, through Indiaâs teenage prodigy Shafali Verma. She first smoked Molly Strano, the most talked about Australian cricketer in the last two days, for a four over cover, with an inside-out drive, which she followed up with a six over the same region, with the same power, audacity and tenacity.
And as if that wasnât enough, the youngster, in the very next over, brought out her Sachin avatar, casually smacking the worldâs third-best bowler for four boundaries off one over. Mind you, unlike the previous two, all these four boundaries came off the ground, and Shefali even cheekily held her pose after striking the third boundary, holding her bat up to show off the sticker of her bat to the camera. It was a gorgeous, textbook cover-drive that made Ian Bishop on air utter the words, â"Shot of the innings so far and it will be very difficult to beat this".Â
But you could sense something was wrong. Even with the score 40/0 after 4 overs, even after Strano dropped a sitter, there were no anxious faces in the Australian camp. It was almost as if they knew that this was a part of the script and that they were waiting for the right moment to crush Indian hopes. And so when India lost three wickets for the span of just six runs - the three big ones of Shefali, Mandhana and Harmanpreet - it felt like the party had truly begun. People in the crowd were sipping their beers more gleefully, many were even vibing to the tunes played by the DJ and even the players, on the field, sported smiles on their faces and had this laid back, âwe got this, this is what weâve been waiting forâ attitude.Â
Not even when Jemimah Rodrigues and Deepti Sharma were chipping away with the runs did it feel that the mood was any different. With their lofted shots and their chipped and checked drives and their slog sweeps, the duo were coasting along slowly but steadily, but you still got a feel that they were, in fact, dancing to the tunes played by the Aussies. That - when Jemimah and Deepti were harmlessly caressing the ball all over the ground - was a pretty drab juncture but even the most energetic of parties have their dull phases, donât they? Thereâs the initial buzz and frenzy, and then a silent phase which is followed by somewhat of a âpeakâ.
The peak for Australia came when Alyssa Healy found her touch with the bat. The Alyssa Healy whoâd scored a total of 15 runs in the 5 T20I matches that preceded this one, all of a sudden, had found her golden touch, was middling everything and the sound of the ball off her bat was sweeter than a thunderbolt left-footed strike of Lukas Podolski crashing into the top bins. There were even premature celebrations in the crowd because, letâs face it - you just donât beat Australia when theyâre in this kind of a mood.Â
But thatâs where the 13,000 and so people were wrong. Little did they know that the Indian Women, led by Harmanpreet Kaur, had set foot on to the Sydney Showground Stadium to show the world that âDON'TSâ do not exist. You donât lose the toss against Australia and start the match off firing from all cylinders. You donât post a below-par first-inning total in Sydney and end up convincingly winning the match by 17 runs. You donât abruptly cut Allysa Healyâs innings short after sheâs raced off to her fifty. You donât dismiss Ellyse Perry for a golden duck in front of her home crowd. You donât get eight Aussie batsmen out for single-digit scores and finally, you just donât beat Australia in their own backyard by taming them with spin. Yet, the Indian Women had the audacity to do all that.Â
Perhaps, that is exactly what caught the Australian women off guard. That someone had the nerve, cheek and the intrepidity to not only visit their party and steal the limelight, but do so by singing their own songs and pulling off their own, traditional dance moves. When Poonam Yadav claimed the first of her four wickets in the form of Healy, the Aussies looked at her like someone whoâd downed a couple of tequila shots, almost uttering, âThis wonât last long. How long can she keep going, eh?â.
But it lasted long. It went on forever. Poonam just did not stop - not even after the 20th shot. It was almost as if she slowed the pace on her deliveries on purpose so as to give the batsmen a good, hard look at the bullet that eventually kills them. And when she accounted for the wicket of Jess Jonassen in the 14th over, it was when the realization struck Australia that maybe, just maybe, India were not there to enjoy the party, but hijack it.
By the time they realized it, though, it was too late. By the 17th over, there were no firecrackers, nor were there any folks sipping on beers; there were just a bunch of anxious faces - both in the stands and in the dugout - who had their hands on their head. And at 22.10 PM local time, when Shikha Pandey took the bails off to dismiss Molly Strano, the worst nightmare of 13,000 people came true. India, right in front of their eyes, had hijacked the party and pilfered victory. What started as a dazzling night with fancy lights and promised so much, alas, ended as a bad trip with the lights out.Â