Two nights in Mackay: Heartbreak for India and a once-unbeatable streak

The greatest of sporting stories almost always seem to involve a redemption arc that makes the audience root for the protagonist that much more. Just weeks ago, we had Emma Raducanu put her baptism by fire at Wimbledon behind her to become the first qualifier to win a grand slam at the US Open, all without dropping a set.

Cast your mind further back and we had one Didier Drogba turn in a Player-of-the-Match performance in the 2012 UEFA Champions League final, in addition to scoring the final penalty as Chelsea won their first European Cup title. It was only four years earlier that the Ivorian forward had been sent off in the final against Manchester United only for John Terry to slip and miss his penalty, the vital fifth penalty that Drogba would have taken in the shootout.

24-0… 25-0… 26-0

Cricket is no different, of course. No need to go that far back for the story that we’re looking at today though. The Indian women were off to Australia and their first assignment Down Under was to try to break a 24-ODI unbeaten streak that began with the Mithali Raj-led side all the way back in 2017.

Interestingly, the last time Meg Lanning lost an ODI as captain of this champion side was also at the hands of this Indian team. That was thanks in large part to a once-in-a-lifetime innings from vice-captain Harmanpreet Kaur, someone the Indian side would have to do without this time.

24 games became 25 as the Aussies breezed past the Indians without breaking too much of a sweat in the first ODI. The Indians were back at the drawing board, and had to work out something special if they were to beat Lanning’s conquerors. Skipper Raj demanded more of her openers - hoping to invoke a response from interim vice-captain Smriti Mandhana in particular.

And respond to the captain’s words she did. Her 86 at the top of the order took the side to a formidable 274 for 7 in their 50 overs. But that's not the redemption story we’re here to talk about. Oh no, India would go on to lose that match despite putting a more-than-competitive total on the board. 26-0. The redemption would come a couple of days later at the same venue though.

How the right blend of experience and youth took India home

Two waist-high no-balls, one clear as day and the other as controversial as they come, and some incredibly sloppy fielding saw Jhulan Goswami unable to defend 13 off the final over on Friday.

However, it was her heroics with the ball that set India up for the unthinkable on Sunday. And although her contributions with the bat were not greater by volume than in the first two ODIs, Goswami did see the Women in Blue over the line when she stepped out of the crease and smashed Sophie Molineux back over her head for a boundary with the team needing 3 in 4 balls. 26-1.

The two others that were part of the aforementioned controversial no-ball incident - Nicola Carey, who faced the delivery, and Yastika Bhatia, who took the catch that then wasn’t - also had their roles to play in what would become a historic day in women’s cricket history a couple of days later.

Carey first dropped a fairly easy catch off Sneh Rana at square leg, and then when she finally held on to one that the all-rounder skied off her own bowling, she was deemed to have overstepped by the barest of margins. Rana would make the most of her lives of course, dispatching the in-form Tahlia McGrath to the boundary three times in a row to shift the momentum completely in the visitors’ favour.

Yastika Bhatia, on the other hand, had a much more positive impact on the game. While she had shown a lot of promise on being pushed to number 3 on debut, it was her 64 off 69, and a 101-run partnership with Shafali Verma, in this match that really set India on their way to victory.

Speaking of Verma though, the 17-year-old did her bit to prove that she belonged on the big stage as more than just a T20 specialist. Playing an uncharacteristically slow 91-ball 56, she did enough to ensure that any chances of a collapse were arrested after partner Mandhana’s dismissal following a great start that was assisted by some wayward bowling early on in the innings.

Time to celebrate the past and look to the future

For an Indian team that had plenty to celebrate on Sunday, there was a lot to think about as well. Not least of which being their lackadaisical fielding in the final ODI. For now though, coach Ramesh Powar and his wards have earned the right to simply focus on the positives, including the emergence of Sneh Rana as a force to be reckoned with at the fag end of an innings and the slightest glimpse of what Deepti Sharma the finisher may just be able to offer.

But that is for the team to do. The Indian fans can finally rest easy knowing that their team will always be the side that ended the greatest winning streak in all of international cricket. For the romantics amongst us, this match may just be proof that the redemption arc is the best part of any great sporting story. For the rest of us, it probably goes to show that all they say about karma may just be real.