Who Is Yastika Bhatia? Batter Driving Mumbai Indians' Winning Streak

In a thrilling showdown at the Women's Premier League opening match on February 23, Mumbai Indians (MI) had swept a victory against Delhi Capitals (DC). The crowd at Bengaluru's M. Chinnaswamy Stadium roared in cheer as Yastika Bhatia and captain Harmanpreet Kaur struck half-centuries, followed by a last-ball six by Sajana Sajeevan, which helped MI win by four wickets. Bhatia impeccably hammered 57 runs from 45 balls, offering a splendid start to the season for the previous year's WPL winners. On March 12, with WPL 2024 in its final leg as MI plays against Royal Challengers, it will be interesting to watch Bhatia do wonders with the bat.

Who Is Yastika Bhatia?

Yastika Bhatia was born on November 1, 2000 in Vadodara, Gujarat. She is a left-hand batter who made it to the Indian Women's Cricket Team in February 2021. She made her Women's One Day International debut against Australia in September 2021. Her debut T20 was also against Australia in October 2021. Before this, Bhatia had also played for the India Women's A team during their tour of Australia in December 2019.

In January 2022, the 23-year-old became part of India's team for the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup 2022 in New Zealand. Bhatia was named the player of the match after her half-century afforded the Indian Women's Team a glorious victory against Bangladesh. In July of that year, she was named in India's team for the cricket tournament at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England, where she helped the Indian Women's team in securing a silver medal.

In February this year, Bhatia made the highest-ever score in the Senior Women's Inter Zonal One Day Trophy. She is the first woman player ever to hit 300 runs in an edition of the tournament. At the Women's Premier League, Bhatia has scored a total of 271 runs.

Final ball. Match-defining Six. Contrasting emotions

The #TATAWPL Season 2 has well and truly begun 🔥😍

Scorecard 💻📱 https://t.co/GYk8lnVpA8#MIvDC pic.twitter.com/tjbm4bpDsV

— Women's Premier League (WPL) (@wplt20) February 23, 2024

At a press conference after the match, Bhatia expressed how her focus was not on the score or the number of balls, but rather on her game. The 23-year-old from Gujarat has also previously led her team to momentous victories, in domestic as well as international games.