The former Indian opening batsman Wasim Jaffer reckons that the ball bowled by Shikha Pandey to Alyssa Healy in the second women’s T20 international between Australia and India yesterday can be termed as the ball of the century in women’s cricket.
It was a delivery that literally surprised everyone because it pitched in the line of the 6th-7th stump and from there, it nipped back enough to not only hit the stumps but hit the leg stump. It was totally impossible for the batter there to cover the movement, as it was just so extravagant.
One thing that could have happened with such extravagant movement that it would have hit the inside edge of the bat and moved past the stumps, but it didn’t. It beat the inside edge and hit the leg stump.
Ball of the century, women's cricket edition! Take a bow Shikha Pandey🙌🏻 #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/WjaixlkjIp
— Wasim Jaffer (@WasimJaffer14) October 9, 2021
Shikha Pandey gave India a fantastic start with the ball while defending a modest total
That wicket of Healy was much needed by India at that point of time because the women in blue were defending a modest total and Healy was the most dangerous batter of Australia. It was important to send her back to the hut early on in the innings, and that’s what Shikha Pandey did.
However, India women eventually still lost the game despite keeping it under control for a decent chunk of the Australian innings. The Australian finishers played well towards the end and India’s fielding lapses helped the hosts as well as they won the game by 4 wickets.
Tahlia McGrath was the top scorer for Australia as she scored 42 runs off just 33 balls with 6 boundaries and made sure the Aussies went past the target without much of a hiccup. The two teams will go head-to-head again in the last game of the tour later today, but Australia has already won the all-format series on the basis of points.
