Two cricketing legends and international captains Harmanpreet Kaur and Sophie Devine were involved in a heated exchange during the Women's Big Bash League 2023 (WBBL) game on Friday, November 3. Harmanpreet, representing Melbourne Renegades, scored a brilliant fifty but Devine-led Perth Scorchers recorded an easy win at home.
An incident occurred when Harmanpreet was batting on 43* runs and facing Devine in the 16th over. Harmanpreet was getting prepared for the last delivery of the over and did not look up when Devine paced up for the delivery. It was too late when Harmanpreet looked up and the Kiwi legend delivered a ball.
Beth Mooney easily picked a ball behind the stumps but Harmanpreet was not happy with Devine and reacted angrily. She raised her left hand to ask Devine and the umpires for an explanation about an 'early delivery' to which the Kiwi all-rounder reacted by defending her actions.
The umpires halted the game for a few seconds before declaring it an invalid delivery and asked Devine to bowl again. Devine was clearly not happy but made sure to ask Harmanpreet if she was ready for the next delivery by signalling thumb up.
Meanwhile, the Scorchers wicketkeeper and star Australian batter Beth Mooney was caught saying, "There's a bit of argy-bargy going on between Harmanpreet and Sophie, and I'm actually not sure who would win that battle because Harmanpreet scares me a little bit."
Harmanpreet's unbeaten knock of 52 runs off 49 balls and quickfire 44 runs from Georgia Wareham helped the Renegades score 171 runs while batting first. This was the first fifty for the Indian captain in the WBBL 2023. She has struggled for consistency with 158 runs in six innings at a strike rate of 108.21. Melbourne Renegades are struggling in the seventh position with just one win in six matches this season.
