Kranti Gaud dismissed Alyssa Healy for the fourth time in five ODIs to give India an early breakthrough in the ICC Women’s World Cup semifinal against Australia in Navi Mumbai on Thursday.
The Indian pacer had the number of the Aussie superstar thrice in three matches in the recent bilateral series. And then Healy went after her in Vizag as Australia chased down a world record 330 in the league phase of the World Cup. The Aussie captain spoke in the PC about wanting to ‘lock into a contest’ with Kranti in Vizag and she had done just that, targetting the Indian pacers in that run-chase but especially not letting Kranti settle in.
But in the semifinal, Kranti managed to provide the big early breakthrough. It’s the wobble seam that did the trick as the ball came in just a little bit after landing on the seam at a good length and Healy’s defence was breached. It was met with a big roar from Kranti.
During the bilateral series, in the first ODI in New Chandigarh, it was a similar dismissal to the one in the semifinal in Navi Mumbai, with the Aussie captain bowled off a length when she chopped on. Another in-dipper accounted for Healy in the second match when Healy flicked one in the air to Arundhati Reddy, out for 9 off 19 balls as India went on to win that match, the last time Australia lost an ODI. In the run-fest over in New Delhi when Australia posted 412, Kranti had Healy caught by Harmanpreet Kaur.
Kranti Gaud celebrating Alyssa Healy’s wicket. (Express Photo by Amit Chakravarty)
After her century in Vizag, Healy had said: “If you’ve been watching me in the nets, it’s been a frustrating experience because I feel like I’ve had no rhythm whatsoever, been struggling to find it, and I didn’t really know where it went before I came into the World Cup. But I think once you step out on the field, your competitive instincts kick in and you kind of just lock into getting in the contest. Obviously aware that Kranti had got me out a fair bit throughout the ODI series, so an opportunity to go out there and lock in a contest with her and just sort of, I don’t know, have a bit of fun in that regard, I think sort of got me going and that was really a really enjoyable experience.”
Healy’s dismissal on 5 off 15 balls came with a fair share of drama in Navi Mumbai. Back in the XI after missing a couple of matches due to injury, she appeared tentative and rusty. A miscue down the ground when she was batting on 2 was put down by Harmanpreet at mid off, a fairly simple chance. Then at the start of the sixth over, there was a delay in play as the players waited for the lights to come on as it had gotten darker. That seemed to further disrupt Healy’s rhythm and she ended up losing her wicket. It would frustrate Healy even more that the players headed in immediately after as rain stopped play briefly.
