India’s fast-bowling all-rounder Pooja Vastrakar created history at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai in the first ODI of the series against Alyssa Healy-led Australia. Vastrakar registered the highest score by a no.9 batter in ODIs breaking the record held by Sri Lanka women's Oshadi Ranasinghe. The Sri Lankan batter had registered an unbeaten 51 against England in 2019. Interestingly, Vastrakar is the only other batter to score a half-century at no.9 in women's ODIs. She scored 51 against Australia in Vadodara in 2018.
Vastrakar came in to bat when India were struggling at 182/7 in the 38th over. Jemimah Rodrigues was batting on 50 off 54 deliveries. Vastrakar hit a boundary off the 39th over bowled by Georgia Wareham, In the next over, she hit Megan Schutt for two consecutive fours. Rodrigues gave the same treatment to Wareham in the following over. In the 47th over, Ashleigh Gardner ended Rodrigues's stay at the crease. She missed out on a chance to score a century. Her 77-ball 82 featured seven boundaries. The two batters shared a 68-run stand, the second-highest for the eighth wicket for India.
After Rodrigues' wicket, Vastrakar hit Schutt for the first six of the match. In the penultimate over, she reached her half-century from 39 deliveries. On the next ball, Vastrakar hit another six. In the final over, she managed to hit just one boundary. She remained unbeaten for 62 off 46 balls featuring seven fours and a couple of sixes. Her record-breaking knock helped India post 282/8 on the board after Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss and opted to bat first.
“We wanted to have 270 on the board. The plan was to keep wickets till the end and then think about the final score depending on the situation. We weren't targetting any particular bowler but we wanted to get boundaries off the loose balls. Got a lot of motivation from Jemimah and always wanted to run hard between the wickets. Whatever we have on the board, feel it is enough to defend. Really happy, feel really pleased especially when you score against a team like Australia,” Vastrakar told the broadcasters during the innings break.
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