New Delhi: Indian women team batter Yastika Bhatia on Sunday scored her maiden half-century for Melbourne Stars in the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) 2024. She made 57 runs off 46 balls against Hobart Hurricanes to help Melbourne Stars register their second straight win in the start of the season.
Bowling efforts from pacers Marizanne Kapp (2 for 28) and Kim Garth (2 for 21) held Hurricanes to 133 for 7 after skipper Elyse Villani opted to bat first. Lethargic knocks from Nicola Carey (44 runs off 43 balls) and Chloe Tryon (35 runs off 33 balls) pushed the visitors to a sub-par score at the Junction Oval in Melbourne. Yastika stumped out Tryon off left-arm spinner Sophie Day’s bowling in the 19th over of the Hurricane innings.
While chasing the target, Yastika hit two boundaries and a six in the first three overs to provide a good start to the Stars. Though she lost her opening partner Ines Mckeon for six runs, the Indian left-hander continued to flow the runs and joined forces with former Australia captain Meg Lanning. The duo added 64 runs for the third wicket, out of which the Aussie veteran scored 27 runs off 21 balls before she was cleaned up by Carey.
Yastika hammered seven fours and a six to complete her first half-century in the tournament, playing in just her second match. She had the former Aussie skipper to thank for helping her calm the nerves on the pitch.
“Meg really helped me when I was in the middle in the Power Surge. She told me exactly what the bowlers were going to bowl, so it helped me out in the middle,” Yastika told the official broadcasters after Stars won by seven wickets.
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Yastika opens about being nervous before Hurricanes game
Yastika suffered a Posterior Cruciate Ligament (PCL) injury in her left knee during India’s white-ball tour of Bangladesh in April. She missed the home bilateral series against South Africa (June-July period) followed by the Asia Cup in July in Sri Lanka.
The 24-year-old wicketkeeper-batter made a comeback to the Indian squad for the T20 World Cup in UAE last month, but couldn’t make it to the playing XI of the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side as India failed to progress to the final.
Yastika played in the recent ODI series against T20 World Cup champions New Zealand in Ahmedabad, amassing 84 runs at an average of 28 on her international comeback. Just after the conclusion of the series on October 29, she had to immediately fly to Australia to join the Stars camp, leading to some exhaustion. She admitted that she was nervous for the Hurricanes match.
“I was really nervous about today’s game because it was a day game … but thankfully I got a good sleep last night,” she said.
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Melbourne Stars will play their next WBBL match against Sydney Sixers on Friday (November 8) at the same venue.
