Indian women cricketer Harleen Deol produces 'one of the best catches ever' to dismiss England's Amy Jones

'Sensational' is a word that could fall short in defining what India's Harleen Deol did in the first T20I between India and England at Northampton. Showcasing her brilliance in the field, Harleen produced brilliant acrobatics on the boundary rope to take a stunning catch of Amy Jones.

Boundary-rope catches remain among the most special dismissal in cricket. In taking these catches, players don't just have to be safe and clean while grabbing the ball but also be aware of the boundary rope. The smallest of mistakes can cost the players big in such situations, but not unless your name is Harleen Deol.

India displayed incredible ability in the field in the opening T20I of the 3-match series. Earlier, India's Deepti Sharma had dismissed Heather Knight with a brilliant run-out on her own bowling. Harmanpreet Kaur then caught Nat Sciver with a brilliant diving catch but the next moment was the most beautiful of them all.

Amy Jones was batting on 43 off 26 balls when she hit Shikha Pandey towards wide long-off. It looked like the ball would fall beyond the boundary but Harleen put in stunning effort to dance around the rope before catching the ball cleanly. Harleen got both her hands behind the ball but in doing so she almost threw herself behind the rope.

Realising that she was about



to step beyond the boundary rope, Harleen threw the ball in the air, collected herself, returned inside the playing area and caught the ball comfortably. She didn't just stop a maximum but also earned India a much-needed wicket at that time.

Despite such brilliance in the field, India couldn't secure a win in the rain-marred match over England. After England scored 177/7 in 20 overs while batting first, India could only reach 54/3 in 8.4 overs before the game had to be halted. No play could be possible after that as the DLS method had to come into place to decide the fate of the game.

England were then named winners of the match by 18 runs. The second match of the T20I series will now be held at Hove on Sunday.