Indian women’s team’s off-spinner Shreyanka Patil reflected on her showing against Australia’s Ellyse Perry in the second of the ongoing 3-match T20I series in Navi Mumbai, saying she set out to get the wicket of her Royal Challengers Bangalore teammate and it did not go as planned.
India lost by 6 wickets against Australia in the 2nd T20I of the 3-match series on January 7, Sunday. Perry became the 1st Australian women’s cricketer to play 300 international matches. She celebrated this occasion in style by hitting the winning six for her team in the 19th over of the match to seal a win for Australia. Shreyanka was on the receiving end of Perry’s finishing hit. Bowling the 19th over, when 15 were needed off 12 balls, Phoebe Litchfield smacked the bowler for 2 fours and almost won the game for her team. When 4 were needed from the last 7 deliveries, Shreyanka was hammered for a 6 by Perry.
The off-spinner took to ‘X’ and put up a hilarious reaction on being smashed by Perry.
“Started the day hoping to get Perry out in her 300th game. Ended the day with Perry hitting me for a six to finish the game! “
Australia won the toss and opted to bowl first. Powered by their brilliant bowling, the team managed to restrict the Indian team to a below-par total of 130 runs. Captain Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney got Australia off to a great start with their 51-run stand. Perry, with her 34-run knock, ensured Australia a win to level the series 1-1.
Speaking in the post-match conference, skipper Harmanpreet Kaur made a remark that if Shreyanka had been on target in the 19th over, things would have been different.
“[While Bowling] we were getting those opportunities and taking wickets in the middle, that’s a positive. If Shreyanka was on target in the 19th over, things would have been different but these close games help to identify areas to improve.”
Harmanpreet’s comment on Shreyanka received backlash from former pacer Dodda Ganesh as he took to Twitter and said that it was wrong for the skipper to throw a 19-year-old under the bus for loss.
“Throwing a 19yo kid under the bus is not done,” tweeted Ganesh.
India will face Australia for the series decider on January 9.
