Amanjot and Deepti flip the narrative for India after rocky start, leading them to a winning total in Guwahati.
Pause and effect – Amanjot and Deepti change the script for India.
The ACA Stadium was eerily quiet yesterday afternoon.
Among the record 22,843 that maintained the gloomy atmosphere at the stadium, an overcast afternoon that started with a radiant, emotional musical homage to vocalist Zubeen Garg, who passed away 11 days ago, changed the mood. Smriti Mandhana played out a maiden over before falling in the fourth over, giving India’s hopes of winning the World Cup a shock after the game began. Both Harleen Deol and Pratika Rawal, who were participating in their debut ODI World Cup, did not falter, as India faced 61 dots in the opening 15 overs. memories of a previous World Cup match between India and Sri Lanka at home.
An hour-long drizzle caused the first pause. It allowed Rawal and Deol to switch tactics and cut the game short to 48 overs each side.
After 25, India was 120 for 2, establishing a respectable foundation. After that, India was at 121 for 5 after three five-ball strikes from Inoka Ranaweera; Richa Ghosh was dismissed in the following over, leaving them at 124 for 6.
This brought together Amanjot Kaur, who was making his World Cup debut in the 50-over format, and Deepti Sharma. For India, everything was a little uncertain.
One-liners come naturally to Amanjot. She is also equally, if not more, skilled in fighting her way out of difficult circumstances.
Amanjot decided to attack and took on Ranaweera, Sri Lanka’s finest bowler of the evening, smashing her for fours in each of the following two overs despite the difficult situation India was in. She quickly reached her first half-century in ODI cricket in just 45 balls.
She made Sri Lanka pay for dropping her three times.
Getting rid of Ranaweera’s hat-trick ball was Deepti’s first task. Even though she is among India’s most valuable players in all formats, her batting strategy in these challenging circumstances has drawn attention. She didn’t let pressure get to her on Tuesday. She rotated the strike and put pressure back on Sri Lanka with a fast single here and a sprint for a couple there.
At a strike rate above 100, Deepti batted for the majority of her innings. Each of her three fours came with that shot, demonstrating how effectively she used the sweep to score 20 off of 11. India was in the right position as Deepti and Amanjot combined for 103 runs for the seventh wicket.
Deepti’s night was far from over. Her teammate at UP Warriorz, Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu, struck two sixes and two fours in Deepti’s opening two overs, which ended at 23. Athapaththu was crucial to Sri Lanka’s successful pursuit of 271 runs. In order to virtually crush Sri Lanka’s challenge, Deepti won the battle by darting one past Athapaththu. In the process, her three wickets moved her up to second place among India’s top ODI wicket-takers.
That’s what can happen after a pause.