India vs Australia 2nd T20I: Ellyse Perry’s reinvention stands out on 300th appearance as visitors bounce back to level series

Fall of early wickets, a lack of a definitive partnership, a significantly under-par score on a track that looked good for batting at a ground where run-chases are historically easier, and a flying start to the opponents in the second half. For about 65% of the night on Sunday – 26 of the 40 overs – the second T20I between India and Australia followed the script of the first match.

If Indian bowlers restricted Australia to 141 on Friday, it was the Australian bowlers’ turn to keep the hosts to 130/8. To India’s credit, they pushed Alyssa Healy’s world champion side deeper in the chase, bouncing back well after the powerplay to stretch the match. But eventually, the visitors finished the game in the 19th over with six wickets to spare to level the series.

In the end, it was a fitting finish by a superstar of the game playing for Australia in her 300th international (cricket) match. Ellyse Perry’s stature in the game is in no doubt, she will finish as one of the all-time greats just for the sheer number of trophies she has won (and a goal scored at a Fifa World Cup for Matildas, to go with it). But what’s been incredible about the last couple of years in her storied career is how she has adapted her game and evolved to meet modern demands.

Australia win the 2nd T20I by 6 wickets and level the series 1⃣-1⃣

It all comes down to the decider on Tuesday 🏟️

Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/ar0sCktbHa#TeamIndia | @IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/kC1TjtUtKn

— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) January 7, 2024

Elite Perry

A few years back it would have been unimaginable to use ‘Perry’ and ‘dropped’ in the same sentence. But in the first half of 2022 – even during Commonwealth Games when Australia added another title to their ever-increasing collection – she was not a sureshot pick in the batting order any more. The fact that she wasn’t bowling as much meant as a pure batter her numbers were deemed less than ideal.

Till October 2021, Perry’s T20I numbers read: 76 innings, 1253 runs, 27.84 average, 105.47 strike rate. Not bad numbers for someone who used to bowl a lot as well in her early days as an allrounder but for a team that was pushing the envelope of batting in the women’s game, it was not top drawer.

Finishing it off in style!🔥

Australia claim a convincing win to level the series at 1-1.

Watch the 3rd & final #INDvAUS T20I, on Jan 9 – LIVE on #JioCinema & #Sports18 ⚡#JioCinemaSports #IDFCFirstBankWomensT20ITrophy pic.twitter.com/lC5vx8a5YQ

— JioCinema (@JioCinema) January 7, 2024

But Perry didn’t step back, Perry stepped up. “Missing out on those games in retrospect … it was a really nice opportunity and challenge for me to improve in a couple of aspects,” she had told SEN Radio in February that year. And sure enough, she took up the challenge head-on. Brought back into the T20I side in December 2022 when Australia toured India, in her first innings on the tour, she smashed 75 off 47 balls at a strike rate of 159.57.

It’s a trend that has continued since, as Perry’s numbers in T20Is since December 2022 read: 15 innings, 555 runs, 55.50 average, 152.05 strike rate.

Key to that change has been her boundary-hitting numbers. Till 2021, she scored a boundary – four or six – at a rate of one every 9.21 balls. Since December 2022, that number has skyrocketed to a boundary every 4.87 deliveries. The numbers are even more impressive for sixes hit. She had hit 23 sixes in her career till 2021, and she is one short of that mark in just the last two years. (The number has skyrocketed from 51.65 balls per six to 16.59 balls per six in these corresponding periods).

Ellyse Perry hits the winning six in her 300th match and the T20I series is tied!

Scorecard: https://t.co/eZXbYO9xtX #INDvAUS pic.twitter.com/KRsDlnHSs1

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) January 7, 2024

One of those sixes was the winning shot on Sunday as she made sure the match didn’t enter the last over. But it was the first six that she hit that was more impressive. India, through Deepti Sharma and Pooja Vastrakar, had kept the run-rate in check and picked up regular wickets too. But with 32 needed off 24 balls, Perry danced down the track against India’s best spinner and deposited an 80m six over long on.

Harmanpreet’s struggles continue

Earlier, on the other side of the fence, Harmanpreet Kaur’s recent struggles with the bat continued. Before the T20I series, she had been bullish in the press conference about her personal form, suggesting that she was feeling good about her batting, was putting in the hours in the nets, and was just getting out in unfortunate ways. While luck is a tough factor in quantifying the Indian captain’s struggles, her scores don’t make for good reading. She was out for 0 in the Test against Australia, then followed it up with scores of 9, 5 and 3 in the three ODIs.

In the match on Sunday, with the top three out early, India needed their captain to step up but she struggled to get going, getting out playing her favourite sweep once more for a 12-ball 6. In a batting effort that never got going, Harmanpreet’s struggles summed up India’s day as they managed just 130 in their 20 overs.

The series is not over yet, and India can take heart from their bowling performances in both matches but the batting continues to be largely dependent on the top order to do the heavy lifting, as Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana managed to do in the opener. The series decider on Tuesday will be another chance for India to get their batting tactics right, and they could use a helping hand from their captain.

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