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‘Really special’ – Yastika flourishes after her long road back
Debutant Nandani Sharma also caught the eye in an encouraging hit-out for India ahead of the T20 World Cup
Rehabilitating from knee surgery, Yastika Bhatia reckoned she was starting again. On Thursday night in Chelmsford she played as if she had never been away, collecting a maiden T20I half-century and setting up India’s 38-run victory over England.
India had begun badly – 7 for 2 after Lauren Bell bagged Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma in the opening over. With Harmanpreet Kaur rested, the situation felt a touch fragile. At the crease Jemimah Rodrigues reminded her partner, “let’s build a partnership”, and the pair duly stitched 126 from 76 balls. Rodrigues finished on 69 off 40; Yastika, 54 from the same number of deliveries.
Rodrigues’ fluency is almost expected these days. Yastika’s form was the unknown. The 26-year-old had not played international cricket since October 2024, the ACL tear and surgery wiping out her World Cup and WPL hopes. She had also missed the WBBL with a wrist problem.
“It felt really special and I’m very grateful,” Yastika said afterwards. “I’ve been coming back after a long time and the team has welcomed me very nicely and it has been very good to be back.
“In the injury time, it’s not easy, but there were people backing me. I’m very grateful to all of the people who were behind me at that time and behind the scenes, a lot of work has gone on to come back again into the team.
“Those who undergo ACL surgery, the whole muscle of that leg goes away. We have to build everything from scratch. So after the surgery, it was pretty tough to just go through the rehab process and there were days where nothing was happening, no progress was basically seen.
“But because of the support, I just kept on going, kept showing up, then after months I could see the improvement. Jemi and all the team were in touch with me… staff, team management, and so I’m very grateful for all their support. All is well that ends well.”
India raced to 73 for 2 inside the powerplay and a total well past 180 looked possible. Both set batters, though, departed in the 14th over – Yastika run-out chancing a sharp single, Rodrigues held and bowled by Charlie Dean. England dragged things back smartly from there; only Deepti Sharma reached double figures as India closed on 168 for 7, still above par on a brisk evening.
That India posted such a total minus Harmanpreet underlined welcome depth two weeks out from the World Cup. So did the debut of right-arm quick Nandani Sharma. Bowling briskly, she removed Maia Bouchier and Nat Sciver-Brunt in successive balls before returning to finish with 3 for 34. England, restricted to 130 for 9, never quite recovered from Nandani’s burst and the climbing asking rate.
Heather Knight’s side can point to small positives – Bell’s new-ball spell and Dean’s tidy four overs – yet they were out-played in the decisive moments. The hosts will want sharper middle-order contributions in the remaining two matches of the series.
For India, the night revolved around Yastika. From lonely gym sessions to fronting an international run-chase, her journey has already supplied one uplifting chapter. The challenge now is to keep stacking them as the World Cup looms.
