Is it a bird? Is it a plane?
Well, India’s Twenty20 captain Harmanpreet Kaur, in what was the last ball of the West Indies innings in the first One-day International on Friday in Antigua, added another classic to her already impressive repertoire of stunning catches.
With the catch, Harmanpreet denied Stafanie Taylor a well-deserved hundred; the West Indies captain was batting on 94 and the ball was destined to clear the boundary ropes for a six.
It is not uncommon to find the 30-year-old pull off stunners on the field. Her spectacular take against England in Mumbai last year is still vivid in cricket lovers’ memory.
Here, Harmanpreet went one step better and did something even more challenging. Such are the limits, and with it, the exemplary standards she sets for herself. The delivery by Ekta Bisht was struck powerfully by Taylor back over the bowler’s head and was on it way to fall in front of the sightscreen.
Harmanpreet had other ideas. She ran sideways from long-on at pace, jumped full stretch and plucked the ball out of thin air with her wrong hand. Replays would tell you that Harmanpreet meant every bit of what she did near the boundary. However, in real-time, it looked nothing short of impossible.
She can also present a genuine case for this effort being one of the greatest in recent history. Maybe, there is another breathtaking effort around the corner. With Harmanpreet, one never knows.
Unfortunately for her, this piece of brilliance, came on a day India could not cross the finish-line and suffered a one-run defeat.
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