‘Mommy told me to hit you for four’: When Richa Ghosh sledged back Australia’s Alyssa Healy

Richa Ghosh plays a shot during the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup cricket semi final match between India and Australia at DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai. (Source: AP Photo)

Australia cricketers have a proud reputation for being one of the game’s best sledgers in the business. The Australian women’s team is no different, dominating teams with their cricket as well as their sass when playing. But occasionally, the Indians too have found ways to shut up the Australians with their wit. Once such incident during a Test between India and Australia was revealed by Jemimah Rodrigues in a recent interview.

The tale goes that when Rodrigues and Richa Ghosh were in the middle, Rodrigues was the more talkative one, egging on Ghosh and constantly taking to her. This led Australian keeper Alyssa Healy to take a cheeky dig at Ghosh.

“Richa [Ghosh] and I were playing, so I was speaking to her constantly between overs like, ‘Richa, good shot,’ or ‘Well done,’ and ‘Do it like this.’ Alyssa Healy, from behind the stumps, goes: ‘Hey, your mommy is talking to you, go listen to her!’ And then, on the first ball of the next over, Richa hits a square cut—a bullet shot for four—then turns back and says to Healy: ‘Mommy told me to hit a four!’” Rodrigues said in a conversation for the Breakfast with Champions show.

Richa produced a blistering cameo late in the innings with a 24-ball 34 that helped India end the innings with a competitive score on the board. (AP)

Rodrigues went on to add: “I don’t think we used to speak a lot to the Aussies. But after the WPL and the WBBL, I think we have made some of our best friends from the Australian team.”

She also revealed that one of the popular fan groups for the Indian women’s team, the Bucket Hat Cult, used to sledge the Australian cricketers with innovative and catchy chants that even the Indian players used to sing in the dressing room.

“I feel like I’m their (Bucket Hat Cult’s) brand ambassador because I talk about them wherever I go. They are a group of fans who come in and just cheer for you, and they come up with amazing chants. There was a time when we were playing a Test match at Wankhede Stadium, and you know the Aussies—they are always like the bullies. So Tahlia McGrath misfielded, and suddenly this whole group of people—and they are loud, okay?—they started chanting: ‘She can’t see the ball! She can’t see the ball! Taaliya McGrath, she can’t see the ball!; It was like the first time that people from the outside were bullying the Aussies. It was nice! I don’t know if they [the Aussies] knew them, but all we talked about during tea and lunch breaks, their chants. We would even say them in the dressing room because they are so catchy and cool. To be honest, we spoke to the Aussies later after the tournament was over, and they were like, ‘It was actually affecting us!’”