The fours with Arundhati Reddy: Medium-pacer returns to Australia with another career-best spell as India win rain-hit Sydney T20I

“I love Australia, it’s the country I enjoy the most. I think when we landed here, just the vibes I get… Growing up, I used to watch a lot of Test matches, Ashes in Australia, and I always wanted to come here and play cricket. Obviously, I enjoyed playing here last time around; it was good. And I’ve started off well, hopefully I’ll continue doing it,” Arundhati said after her match-winning performance. Her spell was central to India dismissing Australia for 133 in 18 overs.

In reply, India raced to 50/1 after 5.1 overs, when rain stopped play. With just enough overs bowled for a result, the visitors were 21 runs ahead on the DLS method, registering a comfortable win to begin their multi-format tour with a 2-0 points lead.

Comeback after setback

Strangely enough, after that ODI series in 2024, Arundhati was dropped from both white-ball formats for India’s next assignments. It was an unjustified, perplexing selection call, one that confounded the allrounder too, as she went back to work in the domestic circuit and eventually forced her way back into reckoning, going on to be part of the World Cup-winning squad. And one of the things she had worked on in the recent months is to become more of a stumps-to-stumps bowler.

It was the catch that completely swung the game.

Arundhati Reddy breaks down Harmanpreet Kaur's crucial dismissal of Ellyse Perry. #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/PIeXNnaLsc

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) February 15, 2026

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“One thing I really worked on last season was attacking the stumps all the time,” she had told ESPNCricinfo last year. “It was more like fourth-stump, fifth-stump bowling and just looking good economically. But my main focus from the past two years was attacking the stumps and trying to pick a lot of wickets and not be scared of getting hit.”

That is exactly what she did at SCG, for each of her four wickets. The first was, perhaps, the most crucial. A length delivery to Ellyse Perry was driven down the ground, but the bounce made it awkward for the Aussie allrounder to get distance on it. Harmanpreet Kaur still had plenty to do at mid-off, but the Indian captain ran back and completed a brilliant running catch. “Perry a big wicket, you want to get her early, and I think that catch changed their momentum for us. They lost a couple of wickets after that. She’s a wonderful fielder, and obviously, it’s great that she took that one and gave us the momentum going ahead in the innings,” Arundhati said.

The other key wicket was that of Phoebe Litchfield. Just as she was finding her zone, Arundhati got her to top edge a slog across the line, and Richa Ghosh did the rest.  Arundhati then returned to the attack and picked up the dangerous-looking Georgia Wareham, which triggered an Australian collapse of 5 wickets for 12 runs. Fittingly, Arundhati closed the Australian innings with a leg-cutter to Darcie Brown with a delivery that was zoning in on the stumps.

India’s overall bowling and fielding performance betrayed a certain amount of confidence in their plans. As Arundhati put it afterwards, “We’ve always come very close but not won games, but I think there’s a belief in the team now that we can beat anybody in this world, and I think that’s the confidence that helps us.”