Healy's wonderful hundred powers Australia to 3-wicket win over India
Visakhapatnam (PTI): Skipper Alyssa Healy unfurled a hundred touched with genius and grit as Australia achieved the highest-ever successful run chase in women's ODI to register a three-wicket win over India in their World Cup match here on Sunday.
Healy (142, 107 ball, 21x4, 3x6) toyed with the Indian bowlers as the seven-time champions ended up with 331 for seven, after the hosts garnered an impressive 330 riding on fifties by Smriti Mandhana and Pratika Rawal.
The previous highest successful run chase was Sri Lanka getting past 302 against South Africa in 2024.
The Australians went on top of the table with seven points, while India remained on third with four points.
Healy’s batting was all about pristine ball hitting, a result of her wonderfully supple wrists, allowing the right-hander to place the ball precisely in the desired areas.
She had a rather subdued record against pacer Kranti Gaud before this game, but on this night, Healy biffed the Indian for a six and three fours in an over to break the stranglehold.
Sneh Rana generally tried the fuller lengths, trying to cramp Healy for room but the Australian was equal to the task and brought out sweeps to find the often vacant arc between square leg and mid wicket or behind the fine leg.
Rana tried to bowl at a faster click but Healy slog swept the off-spinner for a six as the Australians motored well along the required rate. Healy fetched her fifty in 35 balls — the fastest in this edition of the tournament.
Amidst the Australian domination, left-arm spinner Sri Charani bowled an excellent spell (10-1-41-3) that gave India, who are without a sixth bowling option, a semblance of control in the middle overs.
The local girl grabbed the wickets of Phoebe Litchfield, who assisted Healy in a cavalier 85 runs stand for the opening wicket, and Annabel Sutherland, whom she foxed with a clever quicker, straight ball to castle.
With veteran Ellyse Perry retiring hurt, Australia appeared to be in a tight spot and the required rate too went past seven for the first time during the chase.
But Healy found a sensible partner in Ashleigh Gardner (45) as they added 95 runs for the fourth wicket to bring the Australians back into the match.
Healy then scripted her sixth WODI hundred, first as the captain of her country, with a single off Deepti Sharma, acknowledging the big moment with a simple wave of the bat.
She was eventually dismissed while attempting a cut off Charani, and substitute Radha Yadav took a fine catch at the edge of the circle.
Healy’s dismissal, perhaps, kicked up some nerves in the Australian camp as they lost Gardner, Tahlia McGrath and Sophie Molineux to slip to 303 for seven from 265 for three. But Perry (47 not out) returned to apply the finishing touches.
Earlier, India woke up from their batting slumber through classy fifties by Mandhana and Rawal to post a 300-plus total.
Asked to bat first, India were served well by openers Mandhana (80, 66 balls) and Rawal (75, 96 balls) on a pitch that had little assistance for the Australian bowlers.
The genesis of India's batting charge was in the 155-run opening stand between Mandhana and Rawal in just 24.3 overs, also atoning for their previous individual and joint failures against Sri Lanka, Pakistan and South Africa.
Elegantly aggressive is a paradox, but in Mandhana's case it is a truism.
The left-hander took her time till the seventh over, but the introduction of left-arm spinner Sophie Molineux (3/75) changed her and the team's tempo.
Mandhana welcomed Molineux, smashing 18 runs in her very first over that included a six and two fours.
Rawal was more a sidekick to Mandhana, but on occasions she showed her flair, dispatching off-spinner Gardner for two fours in a row.
But rather than brute force, silken smooth timing and precise placing shaped their partnership.
Mandhana brought up her fifty in 46 balls, and Rawal followed the suit a bit later off 69 balls.
During the course of her innings, 29-year-old Mandhana also completed 5000 runs in WODIs, earning the distinction of being the fastest and youngest player to achieve the feat.
Mandhana and Rawal also stitched together their sixth 100-run stand in 21 innings, now one shy of India’s record of seven between Purnima Raut and Mithali Raj (34 innings).
However, Mandhana was dismissed against the run of play, giving a simple catch to Litchfield in the deep off Molineux while trying to play a slog sweep.
Mandhana’s dismissal briefly allowed Australia to make a comeback, getting rid of Rawal, skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and Harleen Deol.
India were suddenly at 240 for four in the 38th over, and on the verge of squandering the hitherto acquired momentum.
But Richa Ghosh and Jemimah Rodrigues added 54 runs for the fifth wicket to push India closer to the 300-run mark.
However, Ghosh holed out in the deep off pacer Sutherland (5/40), who used a slew of back-of-hand slower balls to bag some quick wickets towards the end.
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Screenwriter Salim Khan on ventilator support and stable, say doctors
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.
The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.
"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.
"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.
Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.
As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.
Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.
Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.
He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.
Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".
