India’s Yastika Bhatia’s maiden Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) was cut short by a wrist injury she suffered in what turned out to be her sixth and final game against the Brisbane Heat. Bhatia didn’t play the Stars’ fixture against Sydney Thunder and the scans revealed a small fracture and hence was ruled out of the tournament. With an ODI series against Australia scheduled in a couple of weeks’ time, it seems the BCCI must have played a role in pulling Bhatia out.
“Indian international Yastika Bhatia will miss the remainder of the tournament after further scans revealed a small fracture in her wrist,” Stars said in a release while announcing an unchanged squad for the Heat clash. With Marizanne Kapp rested for the England T20Is, the senior Proteas all-rounder has stayed with the Stars for the remaining two games given the Women in Green are unlikely to get through to the playoffs with just two wins in eight matches.
Bhatia in her maiden stint in the WBBL had a sub-par campaign with the bat scoring 154 runs in six innings. Bhatia had a 36 to her name on her debut against the Sydney Sixers before scoring a magnificent 57 against the Hobart Hurricanes. However, her returns diminished after the first two innings with the remaining four games producing just 61 runs.
Now, the wicketkeeper-batter’s prerogative would be to get fit before the start of the Australia series, having done well recently in the ODIs against New Zealand.
Elsewhere in WBBL, Perth Scorchers and Sydney Sixers played out a tied game with super over also getting tied. The one point helped the Scorcher move one place up on the table to fourth.
Melbourne Stars squad for Brisbane Heat clash: Annabel Sutherland, Sophie Day, Tess Flintoff, Kim Garth, Maisy Gibson, Hasrat Gill, Liv Henry, Marizanne Kapp, Meg Lanning, Ines McKeon, Rhys McKenna, Sophie Reid, Deepti Sharma
