New Delhi. India’s women’s cricket team has created history by reaching the final of the Commonwealth Games 2022. He defeated the gold contender hosts England in a very exciting semi-final. Indian team won this match by 4 runs. This is the first time that India will win a cricket medal in the Commonwealth Games (CWG). The players will have to be praised for this achievement of the women’s team, but captain Harmanpreet Kaur will also have to salute the bold decision, which she took in the last over.
Batting first, India scored 164 for 5 in this match played in Birmingham. In response, England scored 151 for 5 in 19 overs. He had to score 14 runs in the last over to win. Katherine Brunt and Maria Bushier were at the crease. Both these batters are known for hitting big shots. In such a situation, the path of the Indian team was not looking easy.
On the other hand, talking about the Indian team, it had many options to bowl the last over. Medium pacers Renuka Singh and Meghna Singh had overs left. Left arm spinner Radha Yadav also had 2 overs left. But captain Harmanpreet Kaur did not hand over the ball to any of them. Instead of these three, he relied on all-rounder Sneh Rana, who is an off-spinner.
If two right-handed batsmen are present at the crease, who can play big shots, it is rarely seen that the last over is done by an off-spinner. That too when the captain has the option of two medium pacers and the match is being held in England. Even if the pitch is helpful to the spinners, on such occasions a left-arm spinner or leg-spinner is given a chance instead of the off-spinner.
Cricket lovers will not forget that almost a similar situation had happened in the final of the T20 World Cup played in 2007. Then Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq was present at the crease with Mohammad Asif at the crease. Pakistan had to score 13 runs to win in the last over. India’s three pacers RP Singh, S. Sreesanth and Irfan Pathan had completed 4-4 overs. Medium pacer Joginder Sharma, off-spinner Harbhajan Singh had one over each. There was also the option of getting the all-rounder Yusuf Pathan playing the debut match. That is, in a way, captain Dhoni had to choose between veteran off-spinner Harbhajan and improvised pacer Joginder Sharma, playing only the fourth match of his career. Dhoni played a bet on Joginder, which was successful.
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Tags: Commonwealth Games, cwg, Harmanpreet Kaur, Sneh Rana, Women’s Cricket
FIRST PUBLISHED : August 06, 2022, 19:37 IST
