‘The flying Yadav’ and Smriti Mandhana’s return to form

When you wake up in the morning, you might have forgotten everything about India’s 48-run win over Australia in the last league game in Guyana on Saturday (November 19), including Smriti Mandhana’s career-best 55-ball 83, which took them to the top of the Group B table in the World Twenty20, but if you saw that catch you would still be drooling about it.



With Australia needing 62 runs off 15 balls, India were in control when Radha Yadav, the 18-year-old left-arm spinner, bowled a slow, flighted delivery outside off stump, as had been the bowling tactics through the innings, to Delissa Kimmince. As Kimmince swings her bat, Taniya Bhatia, the wicket-keeper, tells Radha “pakad le” – hold it. Radha runs back from her follow through on the offside to jump and complete a two-handed stunner just ahead of where the mid-on fielder would have been when for a long time it looked like the ball would fall in the no-man’s land. Shall we just name her ‘the flying Yadav’?



This is the kind of magic that happens on the field when the squad’s average age is 24 years old and you are given the freedom to play fearlessly without worrying about consequences. This is the kind of magic one expects from fielders from Australia, New Zealand, England and South Africa. This is the kind of magic that could boost the morale of the team ahead of the knockout stage after they had dropped five against Pakistan. This is the kind of catch that will always be referred to every time Indian fielding is discussed from now on. This is the kind of catch that you will remember for life.



When was the last time a catch by an Indian had outshone the entire opposition’s fielding performance on the global stage. Maybe in the 2009 World Cup when Amita Sharma’s forward-diving catch at mid-on against New Zealand to dismiss Amy Sattherwaite got ?t=162" rel="noopener noreferrer">Wasim Akram on air to describe it as a “blinder”.



Radha’s acrobaticism, of course, was a part of a storm building up at the ground. Australia had set the tone, with debutant Tayla Vlaeminck diving full length backwards to take an one-handed catch off the bat of Veda Krishnamurthy at backward square leg. Then it was Veda’s turn to be under the ball on four occasions in the outfield, becoming only the second fielder after England’s Lydia Greenway (against New Zealand in 2010) to take so many catches in a T20I. Not to forget one of Radha’s excellent stop at point in the inner-circle early in Australia’s innings after allowing one to go through her legs to the fence. Fielding is often the barometer to judge a team’s happiness quotient, and this Indian unit ticks that box easily.



India’s performance in the knockout stage in new conditions in Antigua awaits to be seen, but by being the first team from the country to end the group stages of a world event without dropping a game and topping the table in four decades the new generation has announced its arrival. Is the country now ready for a Women’s Indian Premier League? That’s a bigger question for another day, but for now it is the youthful exuberance against a team that had dominated against them in all but three out of 14 T20Is in the past that comes through.



Having already qualified for the semifinals, India were keen to be not complacent in the top of the table clash. They needed to show to themselves and to the world that Australia is beatable instead of being timid and falling to the reputation of some of the biggest names in the sport. Some of them carried the scars from five losses across two formats against Australia from the home summer earlier this year.  Were they past it now was an obvious question.



The positive intent was visible at the toss when Harmanpreet Kaur chose to bat first on a pacy surface that both the teams had not played on earlier. India now had a chance to set the game’s tempo instead of giving Australia a chance to dictate terms. Taking the call despite the absence of an “unwell” Mithali Raj only vindicated the positive vibe emanating from the dugout. The decision to bat first would have looked foolish had India caved in meekly against a strong Australian bowling unit, but that’s not how teams keen to dominate think.



The onus was on Mandhana to hold the batting together. She needed to return to form after two steady starts against Pakistan and Ireland, and India needed her to be in touch before entering the knockouts.



Mandhana usually loves pace off the surface, something that had not been on offer in the first three games to as much of her liking. She had thrown her wicket away trying to improvise on two occasions, but there were signs of her warming up. The drives were getting timed, but were not finding the gaps or were not powerful enough to reach the boundary. The lofted shots were coming through, but not exactly from the sweet spot of the bat. All of that fell in place against Australia.



With Taniya Bhatia falling early and Jemimah Rodrigues stuck, Mandhana was not hesitant to take early calculated risks. Her situational understanding came to the fore in the sixth over when an over-pitched delivery from Megan Schutt, the No.1-ranked T20I bowler, at 105 kmph was lofted straight for a six. Anticipating that the next ball would be shorter, she stayed in her crease to guide it to the point fence. She had first used a similar tactic for a six and four against Sophie Molineux, the left-arm spinner in the previous over.



At the end of six overs, India were 46 for 1 with all of four fours and two sixes coming from the bat of Mandhana. Her bat swing was so pleasant to the eyes that Sanjay Manjrekar was reminded of a young Sourav Ganguly and Tom Moody drew comparisons with Yuvraj Singh.



Harmanpreet’s arrival in the seventh over immediately eased some pressure from Mandhana’s back. The two PlayStation partners enjoyed each other’s company during their brisk 68-run stand, with Harmanpreet being the aggressor. Harmanpreet used the long handle to good effect to produce three sixes, including the 50^th of the tournament, but was not afraid to look ugly to find the boundary every time there was a need for one. Talk about match awareness.



Mandhana’s half-century – her first after 13 innings – came off 31 balls, and the duo looked set for a big one. In fact Harman’s 27-ball 43 was so clean and attitude driven that it was a flashback of her unbeaten 171 against Australia in the 2017 World Cup semifinal. Her departure, however, was the reason India finished on 167 for 8 and not beyond 180. Things would have been worse had Veda not urged Mandhana to take the Decision Review System after she was adjudged leg before wicket off Molineux in the 15^th over. As it turned out, the ball had pitched outside the leg stump and Mandhana added another 21 crucial runs.



Mandhana said that she would love to bat till the end of the innings, and also felt India were “10-20 runs” short. Her analysis was right, as India hit just one four after she fell at the start of the 19^th over – soon after becoming the second-fastest Indian to reach 1,000 T20I runs.



In Mithali’s absence the lower-middle order looked even thinner and raised questions about its preparedness for a crunch situation. Australia’s decision to not send Alyssa Healy, player of the match in previous three games, to bat because of “mild concussion” after colliding with Schutt while going for a catch meant India had more breathing space. Otherwise the poor finish with the bat could have proved costly. The team management has a couple of days to address the issue as also to prepare to play their first match under floodlights, but for now let’s remember ‘the flying Yadav’.