IND W vs AUS W | India Player Ratings - Sensational Poonam spins India to historic win

ByAnirudh Suresh, SportsCafe Editor

02/21/2020

It was a night to remember at the Sydney Showground Stadium on Friday, as Team India, who entered the match as heavy underdogs, scripted a historic win to stun the tournament favorites. India’s charge was led by Poonam Yadav, who came up with one of the all-time-great World Cup performances.

Smriti Mandhana (4/10)

Despite boasting scores of 35, 45, 55 and 66 in four of her five previous knocks, today at the Sydney Showground Stadium in Sydney, Smriti Mandhana looked like a player down on confidence. In fact, it looked like she was overwhelmed by the occasion and if it wasn’t for Molly Strano dropping a sitter, she’d have perished for just one run. A couple of lofted hits took her to double digits, but at no point did it look like she was ‘in the zone’.

Shafali Verma (7.5/10)

If Mandhana looked like she was overwhelmed by the occasion, Shafali Verma looked like she was born for this. Right from the get-go, the teenager looked crystal clear with her plan and approach - to rock the bowlers early with aggression - and she executed it with perfection. In her 15-ball stay at the crease, Verma showcased everything she had in her arsenal - be it natural timing or the god-gifted power - and for a while, had the Aussies anxiously clutching at straws.

Jemimah Rodrigues (7/10)

After seeing three wickets fall in the span of 16 balls - for the addition of just 6 runs - Jemimah could have easily panicked, but she stayed calm and composed and eliminated the ‘risk-taking’ factor completely out of the equation. With the field spread out, the teenager used the ‘checked’ on/off drives to perfection and manipulated the field with elan to keep the score ticking. She complimented her left-handed partner, Deepti Sharma, too, and showed maturity beyond her age. Saying that, she would be bitterly disappointed having gotten out just when it seemed like the Women in Blue were all set to pull the trigger.

Harmanpreet Kaur (3/10)

Like Mandhana, one could sense from ball one that Harmanpreet Kaur was not going to have the greatest of days. In her five-ball stay in the middle, she was, by far, the most scratchy Indian batsman and barely looked like the shadow of her 2017 self that brutalized this very same Aussie attack. She attempted uncharacteristic deft strokes and missed out on dispatching loose deliveries down the pad, and it only took her four deliveries to give in and flip. Let’s just say that she won’t be looking back at her dismissal with pride.

Deepti Sharma (7.5/10)

Arguably the best player on the field for India today, it looked like Deepti Sharma understood her role like no-one else - with both bat and ball. First, with the bat, she rescued the sinking Indian ship alongside Jemimah Rodrigues, stringing together a 53-run partnership, and then, with the ball, she managed to keep a rampant Alyssa Healy at bay. Her batting, in particular, was impressive, with her using the slog-sweep - especially against the left-armer Jess Jonassen - to perfection. But she, like Rodrigues, would be disappointed to not have given India the push they needed to take the score beyond 150, especially having been well-set.

Veda Krishnamurthy (5/10)

Walking into bat with just 24 deliveries left and with the score exactly 100, Veda Krishnamurthy’s job at hand was clear: to go bonkers from the word go. However, she did anything but that, failing to hit a single boundary, scoring just 9 runs in her 11-ball stay at the middle. She was troubled by the spin of Jonassen, variations of Megan Schutt and the swing of Delissa Kimmince and, unlike Deepti, made a mess off her attempted sweep shots.

Taniya Bhatia (8/10)

Predominantly picked in the team as a specialist wicket-keeper, Taniya Bhatia, today in Sydney, literally had one job - to gobble everything that came her way. And she did that to perfection for 70 balls in the Aussie innings, before spilling one off Poonam Yadav’s bowling - albeit a very difficult chance - to deny the leggie a hat-trick. That, however, in no way tarnishes what she did managed to. She gulped a very difficult chance - with the ball taking a thick outside edge and changing direction - to send Meg Lanning packing and inflicted a sharp stumping to dismiss Rachael Haynes. Eventually, she made up for her drop and clung on to an inside-edge to see the back of Jonassen, and thus, redeeming herself and making her night out a perfect one.

Rajeshwari Gayakwad (4.5/10)

On a wicket that looked like a spinner’s paradise, Rajeshwari Gayakwad came out on the wrong side of things and, unfortunately, did not do justice to her inclusion over Radha Yadav. She got her pace, line, and length all wrong and after being taken to the cleaners by Alyssa Healy early on, was then punished by Ashleigh Gardner towards the fag end. She did end up accounting for the wicket of Meg Lanning, but at no point did she really threaten any of the Aussie batters. A disappointing outing, to put it in simple terms.

Arundhati Reddy (5/10)

Like Gayakwad, Arundhati Reddy did not have the greatest of days out in the middle and was guilty of feeding the batsmen with non-threatening trundlers, allowing them to score freely without taking much risk. Healy, in particular, took a liking to the medium pacer, smacking three boundaries of her very first over to put her under pressure from the word go. But after leaking 15 runs off her first over, she, however, made a disciplined comeback, conceding 18 off her next three to ensure that she complimented her teammates who spun a web around the Aussies.

Poonam Yadav (10/10)

If there ever was a spell for the ages, Poonam Yadav’s four-over burst in the inaugural match of the 2020 WT20 today was it. The Aussies were coasting at 58-2 when she walked in to bowl her first ball and by the time she’d bowled her last, she’d ensured that her team was within touching distance of scripting a historic win. She literally broke Australia’s back on her own - picking the wickets of Healy, Perry, and Haynes - and, apart from picking regular wickets, also kept a strangle hold on the batters with her tight bowling. The Aussies did not have a clue on how to negate her googly and by sucking every ounce of pace out of the ball, she also made life hell for the big-hitters in the Aussie side, who thrive on pace on the ball.

Shikha Pandey (9/10)

With India opting to open the bowling with two spinners, the job at hand for Shikha Pandey was always going to be to excel at the death. And she finished off the job that Poonam Yadav started with perfection, conceding just 4 runs off her last 11 deliveries - bowling the 17th and 20th over - to ensure that the Women in Blue left the Sydney Showground Stadium as winners. Shikha stuck to no-nonsense bowling, not attempting anything fancy, and her inch-perfect outside-off stump yorkers even troubled Gardner, who eventually succumbed to the pressure to hand India the win.