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Cricket Players'Absolutely top-class': VVS Laxman reacts to Harleen Deol's sensational catch in 1st T20I against England women
Former India batsman VVS Laxman reacted to the wonderful piece of fielding and praised Deol for her splendid catch, calling it 'top-class'.
Harleen Deol's breath-taking catch on Friday to dismiss England batter Amy Jones for 43 during the first T20I has put social media on fire. Deol took one of the sharpest catches ever seen in the history of women's cricket as she pulled off a sensational effort at the boundary to complete the catch.
Former India batsman VVS Laxman reacted to the wonderful piece of fielding and praised Deol for her splendid catch, calling it 'top-class'.
"As good a catch one will ever see on a cricket field, from Harleen Deol. Absolutely top class," Laxman tweeted.
In the 19th over of the England innings, Jones tried to go after Shikha Pandey and attempted to clear the boundary, but Deol, who was positioned at long-off prevented the ball from going over the ropes and resulted in a dismissal. Harleen jumped in the air and timed it perfectly as she got hold of the ball.
Former Australia captain Lisa Sthalekar too was in awe of Deol's effort as she posted a video of it and tweeted: "OMG, @imharleenDeol. Take a bow!! Calling it now the best we will see this series!!."
However, aware that the momentum would take her over the ropes, Deol threw the ball back in the ground and before it could touch the ground, jumped back in and secured the catch by putting in a phenomenal dive. The effort was so beautiful that even one of the England batters, who was in the dug-out could not help but clap at that wonderful piece of fielding.
However, the joy was short-lived as India women lost the opening T20I of the series to England women by 18 runs (DLS method). Batting first, England posted 177/7, in reply to which, India had reached 54/3 in 8.4 overs before rain intervened and play could not resume.
Captain Harmanpreet Kaur said the team was aware of the rain threat but losing three wickets hurt India. "We were batting according to DLS, unfortunately we kept losing wickets. We knew there'd be rain after 8:30 PM. We couldn't make it due to back-to-back wickets. We fielded really well, there's a lot of improvement in our fielding. Shikha did really well in the bowling department," she said.
"We need to think of the boundaries we're are giving in between overs. If we can work on that, we can stop any team. Every game is important for us, today was unfortunate because of rain. Still two more games left for us to prove ourselves."
