2nd Women's ODI: Harmanpreet, Pratika hammer half-centuries vs Australia
What's the story
Team India, led by captain Harmanpreet Kaur, posted a total of 251/9 in their allotted overs during the second Women's ODI of the multi-format series against Australia. The match is being played at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart. Harmanpreet was the top scorer for India with a knock of 54 runs off 70 balls, while Pratika Rawal also contributed with a half-century, scoring 52 runs off 81 deliveries. Let's decode their performance and stats.
Bowling performance
Australian bowlers shine in the 1st innings
Openers Pratika and Smriti Mandhana (31) gave India a solid start by adding 78 runs before the middle order faltered. The former looked comfortable before being run out after scoring her well-crafted half-century off 81 balls. Harmanpreet, who arrived at four, took over the baton from Rawal. She added vital runs with the lower order, including a 55-run partnership with Kashvee Gautam (25). The skipper went down in the penultimate over as India went past 150.
Pratika
Pratika's third WODI fifty vs Australia
Pratika smashed six boundaries in her 82-ball 51. This was her third fifty across six WODIs against Australia, which took her tally to 226 runs at 37.66. Overall, she has now completed 1,162 runs from 26 WODIs at 48.41. This was her eighth fifty as he also boasts two tons. As per ESPNcricinfo, Pratika's average of 48.41 is only second to Mithali Raj's 50.68 among Indians with at least 1,000 WODI runs.
Harmanpreet
Harmanpreet races past 4,500 WODI runs
Harmanpreet, who made 53 runs in the series opener, made a 70-ball 54 in the second game (2 fours, 1 six). The Indian skipper raced to her 24th half-century in WODI cricket. She also has seven tons to her name. Playing her 163rd game, Harmanpreet has gone past 4,500 runs (now 4,516) at an average of 37.32. She now has eight 50-plus scores against Australia in the format, including a hundred. The tally includes 945 runs at 39.37.