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India T20I captain Harmanpreet Kaur was at her attacking best for Melbourne Renegades in the nail-biting clash Women Big Bash League (WBBL) 2021. First, Harmanpreet scored an unbeaten 81 from 55 deliveries including 11 fours and two sixes and then returned to bowl an economical spell in a high-scoring affair.
Coming in to bat early in powerplay overs at no.4 after Renegades lost two wickets, Harmanpreet took control of the innings and finished with a flourish. She was scoring at run-a-ball till the 12th over with 32 runs to her name.
India’s T20I skipper accelerated in the next over and reached her half-century from 38 deliveries with a six off the first ball of the 15th over. She followed it up with a flurry of boundaries in the death overs and helped Renegades post a total of 175/4 in the first innings. She scored at a strike rate of 147.27.
This was her WBBL career-best score and also the highest score by an Indian batter in the Australian T20 league. However, the record was soon to be broken by Sydney Thunder’s Smriti Mandhana who scored her maiden WBBL century.
The 32-year-old helped her team defend the total against a rampant Mandhana who was single-handedly taking the game away from Renegades. In the powerplay overs, the Indian off-spinner took the wicket of Thunder opener Sammy-Jo Johnson. Later, she returned to defend 13 runs in the final over.
Bowling to her Indian teammate, Harmanpreet varied her pace and length to prevent Mandhana from getting much power in the shot. She almost got the wicket of Mandhana off the fourth ball of the over but the catch was dropped at long-off. She ended up conceding just eight runs from the final over helping her side win by four runs despite Mandhana staying unbeaten.
