This article is all about the second woman cricketer from Chandigarh to play for India after Taniya Bhatia.
This 23 year old Girl went viral in July 2021 after performing an acrobatic catch while avoiding the boundary rope during the Twenty20 series against England.
Author:- Ashwin Jangam (Cricket Analyst, host, poet, entertainer)
Insta I'd:- cricket_creativity
Catches win matches. But a few catches win hearts. On 10th July 2021, one such spectacular catch caught the attention of the entire world. A catch so beautiful, that even the Honourable Prime Minister praised the effort. The acrobatic catch was caught by the flying superwoman- Harleen Deol.
If you want to visit these memories, here's the video link
On 10th July, at 12:45 am IST, the whole cricketing world was in awe of the effort which produced one of the best catches in the game. A delivery bowled by Shikha Pandey was hit by Amy Jones towards long-off. It seemed like the ball would go for a six, but Harleen had different plans. She stopped the ball with a high jump at the right time, threw the ball upwards a moment before landing outside the boundary rope, followed by a full-length dive inside the rope to recollect the ball in style. It looked like time had stopped just to witness this catch. The effort was so exceptional that even the opposition dugout couldn't help but applaud the effort.
Harleen Deol became a household name. She was poured with messages from legends of the game, Bollywood celebrities, leaders, fans and cricket lovers. Harleen, an admirer and a fan of another exceptional fielder Suresh Raina, continued his legacy of acrobatic fielding upping the ante and setting new benchmarks.
While Harleen has always been an amazing fielder, quite surprisingly, it was not always the case in her earlier days. Her coach Pawan Sen says that just as everyone, Harleen was scared of diving and sliding to stop the ball. But her hard work and his idea of making her dive on wet pitch ended her fear. Her hard work and dedication to the game and her fitness make her one of the finest fielder's of this generation of cricketers today.
Courtesy : ESPN CRIC INFO Along with being an exceptional fielder, she is a right-handed batswoman and a leg-spin bowler. The Punjab born cricketer has represented Punjab and Himachal Pradesh in domestic cricket where she excelled in all three departments of the game. She has scored a truckload of runs and has been the highest run-scorer in many tournaments at the domestic level. Also with her bowling, she has contributed to the team by scalping important wickets at the right juncture. Continuing what she did in domestic cricket, she aspires to serve the Women in Blue in all possible ways, which she has already done on a few occasions.
An all-rounder in the team, she has proved to be a valuable asset to the team. Her energy in the field is electrifying and is infectious to other fielders. While we believe, that unbelievable catches are rare to see, Harleen still says that "even if there is no possible chance of a catch, I'll still go for the catch, because if it gets stuck in the hand, it's a bonus for my team ". As cricket fans, we surely believe that in the coming years, this promising player would produce these amazing catches more often. Because if men's cricket has Jonty Rhodes, women's cricket has Harleen Deol.
May God give more strength to this flying superwoman and a proud daughter of India. And may this flying superwoman continue to fly high in her career making the country proud and bringing joy to the faces of a billion people time and again.
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"Looked like time had stopped to witness the catch " . Just wow. What a description of the phenomenal catch. Loved the writing and the style of the author. Perfectly summed up article on one of the fittest fielder Harleen Deol. Keep writing .
Also, would like to see the next article on Veda
Amazing article. Indeed it was a beautiful catch. And equally beautifully you have portrayed it through your writing. Would like to see more articles like this.