India seamer Shikha Pandey bowled an unplayable delivery in the second T20I against Australia at the Carrara Oval on Saturday to send Alyssa Healy back to the pavilion.
Defending 119, Pandey struck in the second ball of her first over. After being hit for a boundary off the first ball, the right-arm quick returned stronger with a length delivery that came back in sharply to bamboozle Healy and dislodged the bails. While the Women in Blue erupted in joy to celebrate an early breakthrough, the Australian camp was completely shocked to see their star opener knocked over by a sensational delivery.
Here’s the video:
Unreeeeeeal! 😱 How far did that ball move? #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/D3g7jqRXWK
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) October 9, 2021
As soon as the video went viral on social media, former cricketers like Wasim Jaffer, Aakash Chopra lauded Pandey for her brilliance. Jaffer took to his Twitter handle and shared the slow-motion video of Pandey’s delivery. Lauding her, Jaffer called the delivery as ‘Ball of the century’.
Ball of the century, women's cricket edition! Take a bow Shikha Pandey🙌🏻 #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/WjaixlkjIp
— Wasim Jaffer (@WasimJaffer14) October 9, 2021
Chopra captioned his post as, “Kamaal-Dhamaal Karte Ho, Pandey Ji.”
Kamaal-Dhamaal Karte Ho, Pandey Ji 🥳😇 https://t.co/tA1QRwhDrx
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) October 9, 2021
Well, Indian bowlers put up a valiant effort to defend the low score before Tahlia McGrath won the battle of nerves in the death overs, guiding Australia to a four-wicket victory. With this win, Australia also sealed the multi-format series as they won the ODI series 2-1 last month and drew the pink-ball Test.
