Image Credit- BCCI
You have the upper
hand. Victory is in the air. You appear to be nearing the finish line. Losing
the first four games of your bad start feels so far gone now. Triumph is
imminent. One significant threat remains to be eliminated.
Phoebe Litchfield grasses a lofted hit to long-on by Harmanpreet Kaur. Sneh
Rana raises an open palm and thumps the ground. Beth Mooney finds it unbearable
to watch. The Gujarat Giants are suddenly gasping, having had the game within
their grasp. Mumbai Indians were chasing 191 and ought to have been 121 for 4
in the 16th over.
At one point,
Harmanpreet was pushed to the brink of irreversibility and was on 20 off 21.
All she had to do was tee off, which she did. By determining her hitting range,
which, aside from one missed opportunity, was largely married with accuracy.
Harmanpreet was only able to be a little more decisive with her footwork, so
she didn’t have time to regret the missed opportunity.
Everybody in the Mumbai dug out sat motionless for the next twenty minutes as
she sent the ball soaring over her favourite arcs, between cow corner and
long-on. It seemed like sheer intimidation to take the two steps down the track
to reach the ball pitch.
Not even someone
with Ash Gardner’s level of experience was safe. It was essentially a knock in
which she reduced her skill set to see-ball-hit-ball. She appeared to have
discovered the one batting accessory she had overlooked early in her innings
and was unwilling to let up until the very end. It was a demonstration of
instinctual batting.
Harmanpreet scored a stunning 24 runs off the same bowler, Rana, just eighteen
overs after being dropped, demonstrating all the qualities that make her such a
terrifying opponent to bowl to.
In the corner of her
eye, long-off and long-on were straighter, especially for the shot down the
ground. Harmanpreet has chosen her gap, though. It was the lower hand at work.
If not, she would not have been able to pound the ball so forcefully.
Rana had enough to reflect on this. She tried to overcorrect and ended up using
a slot ball as a response. It was fired over the far-off boundary by
Harmanpreet. Subsequently, Rana missed the crease, but the entire toss was
lofted to midwicket. After a brief meeting with Mooney, Rana circled the
stumps. Wide long-on and deep midwicket for the heave. With point and cover on
the offside within the ring, long-off was at the rope. With her watch ticking
rapidly, Harmanpreet quickly perused the plan of bowling a wide yorker. That
over read: 4, 0, 6, 4, 4, 6. From a daunting 47 off 18, the equation had
thinned to 23 off 12.
She had only
provided glimpses of her new avatar until this past Saturday. However, at that
moment, it was complete chaos, a flashback to that unforgettable Derby day in
2017 when she inspired a nation to support women’s cricket and elevate it to a
major league.
Gardner was the victim of her assault that day as well. She also witnessed
Harmanpreet, at deep midwicket, toss balls into the stands, deliveries that
most hitters would aim to hit straight. That is the essence of Harmanpreet.
Someone with the belief and ability to freely enter her preferred locations.
When she’s in beast
mode, as she demonstrated on Saturday, she can hit the same ball over long-off
or extra cover, which makes it a scary possibility. Even at the point where the
asking rate approached 15, nothing appeared out of control. She felt confident
again. Once more, she was a master of spin. Giants also had a tonne of spin
tricks up their sleeves.
Harmanpreet’s is a game without half measures when it’s playing at its best.
She is really committed. The connection is even greater, the swing is crisp.
Her ability to move rapidly and decide whether to move forward or backwards
allows her to accomplish this.
She hit five sixes,
ten fours and missed WPL’s first century by a whisker. But she’d given enough
and more for the highlights reel, one that she can fondly look back on next
time she’s in a form slump. And feel good all over again.
Harmanpreet of old was back, and how.