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Follow Us19 years 98 days.
What were you doing when you were this old? Probably crying about college assignments? Or trying to find sources to sneak in illegal substances in your college dorm?
At that age, Titas Sadhu was busy obliterating the Australian batting lineup after they had pulverised her team in the ODI series just a few days ago.
When Sadhu made her debut for the senior Indian side in the Asian games, it was evident that a new star was born in Indian cricket. She picked up three wickets in the final against Sri Lanka and impressed everyone with her consistency and ability to move the ball after pitching.
In the first T20I against Australia at the DY Pati Stadium, that elite talent we all saw in China was displayed in all its resplendent glory in Navi Mumbai.
Going against the norm, Harmanpreet Kaur and Amol Muzumdar decided to play four seamers on a track that has been a batting paradise. That finally allowed Sadhu a place in the eleven and she made the most of it!
Great bowlers make their presence felt right from their first ball and Titas Sadhu started with her action that once reminded you of both Jhulan Goswami and Ishant Sharma. However, what happened after the ball was delivered showed the teenager’s prowess.
Harmanpreet Kaur didn’t trust her with the new ball, but she was right on the money from her first delivery in the fourth over. Beth Mooney was looking to make a lot of room, and Renuka Singh was guilty of giving her exactly that in the third over, where she scored a maximum by moving around the crease. However, the teenager didn’t repeat her senior colleague's mistakes.
Sadhu kept following the batter from round the wicket and pitched her deliveries in that 5-7 metre zone where it was proving hard for Mooney to line her up. Eventually, just two runs in her first four balls built enough pressure for Mooney to play a rash shot on a delivery that was angling into her pads. There was only one place for Mooney to go after that - the pavilion.
Imagine being just 19, playing your first international game against the hallowed Australian team and frustrating someone in the Beth Mooney class! As it turned out, ‘Titan’ Titas was just starting.
Next over, she bowled four dot balls on the trot to the big-hitting Tahlia McGrath. The script was same again - pitch the ball on a length, don’t give any room, and just keep it there delivery after delivery. By the fifth time this happened, McGrath was just done with it. She skied the full delivery on the off stump in an attempt to make some room and hit it over the off side. Harmanpreet Kaur took another dolly.
And if we already hadn’t seen enough brilliance from the teenager, she bowled another delivery in the same area (that 5-7 metre length) and all Ashleigh Gardner could do on the delivery that stopped a bit was give a return catch. Sadhu didn’t miss the sharp opportunity either.
18 deliveries. Three runs conceded, and three of the best T20I batters in women’s cricket in her pocket. Indian women’s cricket fans are not accustomed to seeing new pacers and that also teenagers come in and create such an instant impact. But this tall teen from a small town in Bengal was doing it all so easily with a big smile on her face.
However, don’t let that smile fool you. It’s an innocent facade that hides a skilful and smart bowler. She was very quick to learn in her first over that deliveries on the fuller side of a good length were hard to hit. And then she had the skill to execute that plan to perfection. All four of her wicket-taking deliveries (the fourth one of Annabel Sutherland coming like the first two) were all bowled at the same length.
Sadhu ended up with the figures of 4-17 after her four overs. Her brilliant bowling was also supported very well in the field, with Captain Kaur walking the talk with four catches in the outfield. Albeit, an embarrassing miscommunication between Renuka and Jemimah Rodrigues allowed Phoebe Litchfield to trouble the Indians again with a 49 off just 32 balls. However, the brilliant ground fielding (especially from the likes of Shreyanka Patil and Jemimah) made up for it to a large extent.
Meanwhile, Titas Sadhu’s four fer ensured that India restricted Australia to just 141 on a high-scoring DY Patil surface. She showed that she isn’t just an age group performer. She didn’t get fazed by the might of the Australian juggernaut. The star that was born in the Asian Games is twinkling brightly in the sky of Indian women’s cricket.
