On this day in 2018: Megan Schutt creates history with a hat-trick
On 26th March 2018, Megan Schutt etched her name in cricketing history. On that eventful day, the right arm pacer became the first-ever Australian Women’s cricketer to scalp a hat-trick in T20I cricket. And, her heroics with the ball allowed the Aussie outfit to comfortably beat the Indian Women’s side by 36 runs at Mumbai.
The Indian Women’s outfit won the toss and decided to bowl first. And, the Aussie batters absolutely pounded the Indian bowling attack. Opener Beth Mooney smashed a marauding 46 ball 71 at the top of the order to lay the foundation for the other willow wielders to follow.
And then, Elyse Villani pummeled a blistering 42 ball 61 as the Aussie Women ended their first innings with the scorecard reading 186/5. Pooja Vastrakar was the pick of the bowlers for the Indian outfit and scalped 2 wickets, giving away 28 runs in 3 overs.
In reply, the Indian side was rocked early, and that was due to the sensational hat-trick that Schutt took to push the hosts on the backfoot. She first cleaned up Smriti Mandhana off the fifth ball of the second over. Off the next delivery, she scalped the wicket of the legendary Mithali Raj, who dragged the ball back onto the stumps.
And then, Deepti Sharma hit Schutt straight down the throat of mid-off (off the first ball of Schutt’s 2nd over) as the Aussie bowler completed a famous hat trick in T20I cricket. However, the Indian Women also showed a few flashes of brilliance with the bat. Jemimah Rodrigues scored a sedate half-century at the top of the order. Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and Anuja Patil chipped in with 33 and 38* respectively.
But then, these flashes were not enough for the Indian side to beat Australia. In their allotted 20 overs, the India Women could only manage to score 150/5, as the Aussies romped home by 36 runs. Needless to say, the Player of the Match award went to Megan Schutt for scalping 3 wickets in her quota of 4 overs, including a sensational hat-trick to shatter the Indian side.
