The Adelaide Oval was covered in a sky of rich blue at noon. There was a gentle wind blowing across the stands and a handful occupied the seats to witness the first T20I between the Indian women’s team and the Southern Stars. It is Republic day back home in India and a few Indian flags were given a good flutter when the women’s team walked out on the field to bowl first after winning the toss. The flutter only got stronger as time passed by and it was held high after three and a half hours of entertaining cricket. The moment Anuja Patil hit the fourth ball of the 19th over for a boundary, there was joy in the dressing room, a jump of elation and then began a wave of celebrations. India had meticulously chased down 141 with eight balls to spare. The stars with the bat - Harmanpreet Kaur, who scored a breezy 31-ball 46 and Veda Krishnamurthy who scored a calm and composed 35 off 32 balls. Player of the match Harmanpreet was all smiles after the team’s first victory on tour and gaveBCCI.TV a run through the emotions in the dressing room when the win was sealed. “I feel great and the whole team is over the moon with this win,” Kaur said, still soaking in the celebrations outside the dressing room. “This was our first match in the series in Australia, first win and to add to it, it was our nation’s Republic Day as well. There were a lot of things going on in our mind. When we were inching towards the target and needed just about four runs to win, we were all in a relaxed mood and knew we were close to achieving something special. There was no sense of panic. It feels outstanding to end up on the winning side.” Chasing a total of 141 against Australia at home under testing conditions is no mean feat, but Man of the Match Harmanpreet said the team was more than confident of achieving the target. “The message from our coach and captain was clear - play your natural game. We did back ourselves to chase down 141 here because we felt it wasn’t that huge a total. After Mithali Raj’s dismissal, Smriti and Veda gave us a good start. There were T20 domestic competition going on back home and we would chase totals of 140 confidently. We always told ourselves, if we could set such targets and chase down such totals back home, we will be able to chase them down in Australia as well.”

Apart from the confidence in the words, what’s more striking is her ability to analyse the situation and chase down the target with a clear map in her head. Here she explains her state of mind while going after the target. “When I walked out to bat, I had around ten overs to play. I wanted to be cautious in the first four overs and then take calculative risks. I was just backing myself and stayed positive throughout the innings without thinking too much about the results. I was very clear in my mind that I should go for singles and doubles in the beginning of my innings. I wanted to set my eyes in and then go for my big shots. That is when I went for my big shots and hit that six. I wanted to play till the very last over and bat as long as possible for the team. Thankfully, I could execute my plans well.” Kaur was also quick to rewind to a day before the match when the Indian men’s team met their team during the practice drills on the eve of the first T20I. A quick chat with a couple of the team members had just gotten their confidence levels a notch higher. Kaur said some words of advice from Virat Kohli and fielding coach R Sridhar proved quite handy. “We were all in a hurry yesterday, but Kohli and Sridhar sir were gracious enough to spare a few minutes with us. They passed on a lot of inputs from their experience here. They told us that the wickets here are good for batting and you can chase big scores. They asked us not to think too much about the target while chasing and think of one over at a time. Sridhar sir also told us to play positive cricket throughout the duration of the game and not to worry about the end result. They said, ‘If they come strong on you, you must get back stronger at them’. The message was at the back of our minds and we stuck to it.” With this win, the women’s team has provided a lot of reasons to be proud of their efforts. The endeavour would be to only get better from here on. Kaur realises the importance of the win. “Now our responsibilities are going to double up after this win. The crowd and the people back home are going to expect a lot more from us from here on. They will keep a keen watch and have even more expectations from us. This is an important win and we need to win just one more to win the series. We will give our full effort and seal the series in the next match itself, so that we are not under much pressure in the final game. The game at the MCG will be really important. Australia will come back hard at us, but we are ready for any situations.” Just as the women’s team began to make their exit from the Adelaide Oval, the men’s team made their entry into the stadium. Their result was un known at the point in time, but there was one result that everyone was proud of. Remember the rich blue of the noon? Well, it just got richer by evening.