The Indian captain decided to roll the dice. Over number 33 went to Kranti, and the next one to Amanjot. Alyssa Healy immediately knew what to do. She targeted the pacers, hitting a boundary in each of their overs, which went for a combined 22 runs.
Healy’s knock was replete with timely boundaries, pressure-releasing shots, and constant rotation of strike. She focused on the pacers, played out Sree Charani—India’s best bowler on the night—cautiously, and when the bad balls were presented by the other two spinners, with a favorable match-up, pulled out the slog-sweep.
At the innings break, the stats suggested India were ahead. The total of 330 was India’s highest in Women’s ODI World Cup history. It was also the most runs Australia had conceded in Women’s ODI World Cups. The highest-ever successful run-chase in women’s ODIs was a target of 302, overhauled by Sri Lanka against South Africa last April.
Despite all those numbers against them, Australia would have fancied their chances because of the quality of batting resources they possess.
Early in the innings, Kranti kept Phoebe Litchfield tied down, bowling a maiden in the fourth over. But Healy was quick to realize that she could put Amanjot under pressure from the other end, pouncing on a short ball to smash a pull through square leg and then driving one down the ground for another boundary.
In the eighth over, she went after Kranti. On the first ball, Healy smashed a six over long-off. The next two balls went screaming through the leg side for fours. It turned out to be a 19-run over, and Australia were off to a flier.
The first spells read 4-1-33-0 from Kranti and 3-0-19-0 from Amanjot, with the seamers leaking 52 runs in seven overs. Just as she had responded to a maiden over from Kranti to Litchfield earlier, Healy repeated the dose after a maiden over from Charani to Ellyse Perry. After a streak of eight dot balls, the Aussie skipper responded by hitting two fours in Deepti Sharma’s over.
Shortly after Perry retired hurt with cramps—only to return towards the end and smash the winning runs when Australia were under a bit of pressure—Mooney walked into the middle. With desperation perhaps setting in about the lack of bowling options, Harmanpreet brought herself on, hoping to use her angle against the left-hander.
But Healy took strike and smashed two fours in the only over that the Indian captain would bowl. It perfectly summed up the form Healy was in. It didn’t help Harmanpreet that She was also taking down India’s better bowlers. In the 38th over, Sneh Rana was swept over square leg for six and then in front of square for four.
The innings came at a point when Healy had been struggling for runs in the tournament. But before the match, she insisted that batting aggressively at the top was still important.
“If you had seen me in the nets, it’s been a frustrating experience; you’d have known I had been struggling to find my rhythm and didn’t really know where it went,” she said in the press conference later. “But once you step out on the field, your competitive instincts kick in. Obviously, Kranti got me three times in the bilateral series, so it was an opportunity to go out there and lock into the contest.”
Even for Australia’s all-conquering side, this was a new peak. “To chase down 330 in a 50-over game for us is new territory, so I’m glad that we’ve got the confidence to do that now.”
https://indianexpress.com/article/sports/cricket/womens-world-cup-alyssa-healy-india-vs-australia-record-chase-10303250/
