Six months ago Yastika Bhatia had been in the battle of her cricket life. A catastrophic ACL injury forced the Indian wicketkeeper-batter to watch some of the biggest moments of Indian women’s cricket from home. Questions around her future, her fitness and if she’d ever get back to her best continued to follow her through months of painful rehabilitation.
And Sunday at Lord's Cricket Ground those doubts vanished forever.
Bhatia made 113 off 158 deliveries against England to become the first woman to score a Test century at the “Home of Cricket”. It was more than just a hundred - it was the perfect end to a comeback story that was built on resilience, patience and unwavering belief.
The left-handed batsman’s century helped India declare at 343 for 6 in their second innings, setting England a daunting target of 457. At stumps on day three India had one foot in victory but the biggest victory was Bhatia herself.
Just last year she had her career come to a swift halt when she suffered a serious anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear on a training camp. The injury required surgery and ruled her out of India’s successful ODI World Cup campaign and Women’s Premier League. For any athlete, an ACL injury can be mentally draining, and recovery can take over a year.
Bhatia was recovering physically and emotionally with the rehabilitation process. Every little step, from walking normally back to wearing wicketkeeping gloves felt like a victory. She later admitted that she wondered how her comeback was to happen.
One of the conversations that changed her perspective in those tough months.
Senior opener Smriti Mandhana, who had suffered a similar ACL injury in 2017, assured Bhatia that the setback could turn out to be the turning point of her career. Mandhana told her to trust in the process, keep on trying and that her time would come.
Those words stayed with Bhatia throughout her recovery.
When she finally returned to international cricket in India’s tour of England, the signs were encouraging. She made a half-century in her comeback T20I but bigger scores were still hard to come by. She refused to let disappointment creep back in and instead just kept herself with the game and got back into it and started to feel good again.
This patience paid off on one of cricket's grandest stages.
Bhatia handled England's bowling attack with great composure and scored a memorable century at Lord’s. Mandhana also played a crucial role for the innings, making a 73-run partnership in the middle and she had to leave after 70. She wasn’t at the crease when Bhatia got three figures but she had a big impact on the innings.
After the match, Bhatia said if someone had told her six months ago that she would have her name on the famous Lord's honours board, she would never have believed it. The impossible had been made possible by her family, colleagues and months of grinding hard work.
Her journey is now one of the great comeback stories of Indian women’s cricket. From hospital rooms to rehabilitation sessions to standing tall on cricket’s most historic ground, Yastika Bhatia has shown that setbacks don’t define careers— how athletes respond to them does.
Her century at Lord's will always have a great deal to do with courage, stamina and the conviction that even the worst things can lead to the best things.
