In the ongoing Indian domestic cricket season, the senior women’s team games got underway on the 11th of October and the game between Jharkhand and Uttrakhand that was played on the 20th of October witnessed Ekta Bisht’s special stun Jharkhand.
1st innings : Uttrakhand – 107/6 (20.0)
The contest was staged at the Sachin Tendulkar Gymkhana, Kandivali and the proceedings saw Uttrakhand put in to bat first have a dreadful start as openers, Sarika Koli and Jyoti Giri walked back with golden ducks against their name. Punam Raut and Neelam found themselves in the middle for the repair work and did well with a 41-run stand that saw curtains with the wicket of Punam Raut on 30(34) inside 9 overs. The side then lost the wickets of Reena Jindal on 1(10) and Ekta Bisht on 4(5) in quick succession and were reduced to 55/5 inside 13 overs. Mansi Joshi did well in accompanying a set Neelam for a crucial 34-run stand that came to a close with the wicket of Neelam on 41(41) with 89 on board. Mansi and Kanchan Parihar remained unbeaten on respective scores of 15(19) and 13(10) in guiding Uttrakhand post 107/6.
2nd innings : Jharkhand – 97/10 (19.3)
Jharkhand in reply had its top 5, namely, Anamika Kumari (11), Ashwani (17) Ruma (15), A A Patil (23) and skipper, Niharika (11) dismissed after having starts and the side with the wicket of Niharika off the 2nd ball of the penultimate over were 6 down for 93. A ball later, Ekta Bisht dismissed Shubh on 12(6) and bagged a fifer, but as she continued, off the next ball handed a golden duck to Devyani (caught and bowled) and off the last ball of her spell, got one through Prajakta and in handing her a golden duck, skipper Ekta Bisht etched a hat-trick and figures of 7/8 (4) against her name. Anjali Kathait in the final over with the wicket of Nidhi B closed the game out bowling Jharkhand out for 97.
4 Overs
7 Wickets (including a hat-trick)
8 Runs
19 Dots36 Year Old Ekta Bisht bowled an outstanding spell playing for Uttarakhand against Jharkhand in the ongoing Senior Women’s T20 Trophy#CricketTwitter pic.twitter.com/mXqyHOON2I
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) October 20, 2022
Result : Uttrakhand won by 10 runs
Ekta Bisht, the 36-year-old, slow left-arm orthodox spinner has played a Test for India and in the format has got 3 wickets with the best figures of 2/33. In 63 ODI games, she’s picked up 98 wickets with the best figures of 5/8 to her name that’d come against Pakistan during the sides, 2017 World Cup campaign in England. In 42 T20I matches, she’s bagged 53 wickets with the best figures of 4/21.
The ever economical, Ekta Bisht, last played an ODI game for India early this year, where she against New Zealand finished with figures of 1/62 and post that has repeatedly been overlooked. Ekta’s last T20I outing was against England in 2019 and on the back of this stunning performance (7/8 off 4 overs) Ekta Bisht has strengthened her comeback case.