Watch: At the Mumbai Indians nets, Jhulan Goswami, 40, and Charlotte Edwards, 43, clashed once more, reliving memories of many an old battle.
Goswami and Edwards’ careers overlapped for over a decade and a half. Over this period, they had clashed in five Test matches, 38 ODIs, and nine T20Is.
While Edwards had scored 1,539 runs in these matches, she had fallen to Goswami 12 times.
However, all that had been until 2016, the year of Edwards’s last international match. Goswami, too, hang up her boots in September 2022. Now, they came together in the inaugural edition of the Women’s Premier League – ‘Lottie’ as head coach, ‘Gozy’ as mentor and bowling coach.
Here, the unstoppable force and the immovable object decided to relive their ‘challenge’ in the nets for one more time. The Mumbai cricketers – Nat Sciver-Brunt, Amelia Kerr, Saika Ishaque, Issy Wong, Humaira Kazi – chipped in with predictions as the duo stepped into the nets.
The clash began with a trademark Edwards defensive stroke. Soon afterwards, she played a ball towards point, and sprinted for a ‘single’ – uttering “that’s going to be four, Gozy!”
“The point fielder is standing and watching your face,” came the response.
Not too long afterwards, an exasperated Goswami exclaimed how Edwards had been showing the “full face of the bat” to the bowler, just like she used to in her heydays.
Then Edwards tried to flick one and missed, and Goswami went up in her famous ear-shattering appeal, falling back on the pitch in the effort as Kiran More, the bemused umpire, looked on.
Finally, Edwards tried to sweep one and was bowled, and lay on her back to mark the end of the battle. They hugged before Goswami reminded everyone that while Edwards was brilliant, she had now fallen to her 13 times.
Then the legends left to join hands again – for there was a WPL final to be won.