‘Purest of batters, purest of bowlers': Amanjot shines in 2nd T20I win

Hindustan Times

4 days ago

Chandigarh: Ahead of the England tour, the Indian women's team had primarily looked at Amanjot Kaur in a bowling role in white-ball cricket. But on Tuesday night, in the second T20I against England at Bristol, she proved her coach Nagesh Gupta's assessment of her as a two-dimensional cricketer. India's Amanjot Kaur in action. (Reuters)
The 24-year-old hit an impressive unbeaten 40-ball 63 batting at No.5, the joint top score. And coming on to bowl, Amanjot first grabbed the all-important wicket of the in-form England captain Nat Sciver-Brunt.
However, it was with the bat that she truly instilled a level of confidence that was long missing in the Indian team. A seam-bowling all-rounder is a luxury for any team and with India preparing for the upcoming Women's ODI World Cup and the T20 World Cup next year, India would love to add that kind of luxury to the talent they can call upon.
Amanjot made sure that she stuck to her job and partnered with joint top-scorer Jemimah Rodrigues, raising 93 runs for the fourth wicket. She then stitched together an unbeaten 57 with Richa Ghosh (32*) as India recorded 181/4 – the second-highest women's T20I total at Bristol.
She completed her maiden T20I half-century off 35 balls. During the rebuilding job, Amanjot also showed that she can accelerate the innings with clean stroke play in the death overs as well.
India scored 117 runs in the last 10 overs after the early jolts when they lost Shafali Verma (3), Smriti Mandhana (13) and Harmanpreet Kaur (1), reducing India to 31/3 within the Powerplay phase.
Jemimah underlined her experience, smashing a 41-ball 63 to revive the Indian innings. She went after Linsey Smith (0/37) and Em Arlott (1/43) to inflict further damage.
'Credit goes to Jemi for pacing her innings so well. She told me to stay at the wicket for a longer time and then we wanted to take it deep. Afterwards, Richa finished the innings well,' Amanjot said after the game.
India beat England by 24 runs to take a 2-0 lead in the five-match T20I series. Harleen Deol, who scored 43 off 23 balls in the first match, was left out with skipper Harmanpreet Kaur returning after sitting out the Trent Bridge game.
Amanjot is enjoying her comeback into the Indian team. She had suffered a hand and back injury in 2024, forcing her to miss the T20 World Cup as well as the domestic season. But she made use of the Women's Premier League stint with Mumbai Indians to earn her India call-up.
Speaking on her maiden T20 half-century and the all-rounder tag, Amanjot said, 'It is the first of many. I am now being called an all-rounder, but I would like to believe that I am the purest of the bowlers and the purest of the batters. I want to do it more for India.'
Her innings included nine fours, the same number hit by Jemimah. Richa Ghosh remained unbeaten on 32. England once again failed to mount a serious chase as they were restricted to 157/7. Tammy Beaumont top-scored with 54 and Amy Jones (32) Sophie Ecclestone (35) contributing, but it could not prevent a 24-run defeat.