Watch: Pooja Vastrakar gave Australia captain Alyssa Healy a fiery send-off after knocking over her leg stump in the second IND W vs AUS W ODI today (December 30) at the Wankhede Stadium.
Subscribe to the Wisden Cricket YouTube channel for post-match analysis, player interviews, and much more.
India were put into field first on a warm afternoon in Mumbai after Australia won the toss in the second ODI. The visitors were given a life early on as Phoebe Litchfield was dropped by Amanjot Kaur on the second ball of the match.
India’s sloppiness in the field continued as they dropped Litchfield on two more occasions, did not take a review against Alyssa Healy that would have resulted in her wicket, and took a wild one against Litchfield despite the ball pitching way down the leg stump.
After nine overs of toil, India were finally rewarded with their first wicket of the game when Vastrakar sneaked through Healy’s defences to uproot her leg stump out of the ground.
Perhaps frustrated with all the missed chances, Vastrakar let out an immediate and aggressive celebration, giving Healy a send-off without directly looking at her.
With this, Healy’s poor form with the bat continued as she followed her duck in the first ODI with a 24-ball 13 in the second. India, however, could not capitalise on the wicket as Ellyse Perry came out with positive intent at No.3 and stitched a solid partnership with Litchfield.
After the first 20 overs, Australia’s score read 98-1.
