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Seriously impressed with @ImHarmanpreet in last nights #WBBL02 Classy, skillful. A wonderful addition to the tournament: Adam Gilchrist
Harmanpreet Kaur is proving to be a big hit in her maiden season in the Women's Big Bash League as the Indian T20 captain produced a superb all-round performance to help her team Sydney Thunders outclass Melbourne Stars by eight wickets, in Albury, on Tuesday.
After smashing an unbeaten 47 off 28 balls albeit in a losing cause on her WBBL debut, Harmanpreet produced another impressive showing for Sydney. She grabbed four for 27 with the ball and followed it up with a quickfire 30 not out off 21 balls to win the Player of the Match award in her second appearance in the T20 tournament.
Melbourne captain Meg Lanning opted to bat bit but her team could only manage 116 for nine in their 20 overs.
Bowling her gentle medium pacers as the fourth change bowler, Harmanpreet first dismissed Jess Cameron (36) in the 16th over and two overs later, she accounted for the wickets of Lily Bardsley (2) and Katie Mack (0), before scalping Danielle Hazelle (5) in the final over.
It was her wonderful bowling at the death that helped Sydney keep the Melbourne batters in check towards the end.
Harmanpreet, who walked in at No. 4 with 39 runs still needed off as many balls, scored 24 runs in boundaries off seven scoring strokes with three fours and two sixes in company of another Australia international and Sydney skipper Alex Blackwell (21 not out).
During the first game, none other than Australia's wicketkeeping Adam Gilchrist had tweeted about Harmanpreet.
"Seriously impressed with @ImHarmanpreet in last nights #WBBL02 Classy, skillful. A wonderful addition to the tournament."