Healy registers fastest fifty in history of ICC event finals

Melbourne: Australia’s opening batter Alyssa Healy on Sunday created the record for scoring the fastest fifty in the history of ICC event finals across formats (both men and women).

Healy brought up her half-century off just 30 balls in the ongoing Women’s T20 World Cup final against India at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).

India’s Hardik Pandya held the previous record as he had scored 50 off just 32 balls in the ICC Champions Trophy finals against Pakistan in 2017.

She managed to score 75 runs off just 39 balls, and she was finally sent back to the pavilion by Radha Yadav in the 12th over of the innings.

In the finals between India and Australia, the latter won the toss and opted to bat first. Both teams opted to go for an unchanged playing XI.

India playing XI: Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Taniya Bhatia(w), Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur(c), Veda Krishnamurthy, Deepti Sharma, Shikha Pandey, Radha Yadav, Poonam Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad.

Australia playing XI: Alyssa Healy(w), Beth Mooney, Meg Lanning(c), Jess Jonassen, Ashleigh Gardner, Rachael Haynes, Nicola Carey, Sophie Molineux, Georgia Wareham, Delissa Kimmince, Megan Schutt.

India has entered the finals being the only undefeated side in the ongoing tournament.

It is the first time, that India has managed to reach the finals of the tournament, and the side would be playing in front of more than 80,000 people at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).

On the other hand, Australia has won the T20 World Cup four times. They are the only team in the history of the tournament to reach the knock-out stages in every edition.