Yastika Bhatia navigates ACL injury, rides her luck to score century at Lord's

Yastika Bhatia rode her luck but made the opportunity count as she cruised to her maiden international century at the Lord's Cricket Ground on Sunday.

Bhatia could have been dismissed on the very first delivery of Day 3 by Lauren Bell, if not for the stubborn off-stump bails.

Bell got the ball to nip back into the left-hander from a length, beating her inside edge as she attempted a drive. The ball kissed the top of off-stump. There was a noise, but the bails remained unmoved.

Luck was on her side and Bhatia was determined to make it count.

She left the nerves behind her almost immediately, caressing the very next ball to the long-off boundary with relative ease. It was just a teaser of what was to come over the next few hours at the Home of Cricket.

With a calm head over her shoulders, Bhatia left the English bowlers flustered as she drove anything fuller and cut past the square for anything shorter to bring up her century off 145 deliveries.

The southpaw hit 14 boundaries in her 158-ball 113 as she took India to a commanding position in what is the first-ever women's Test match at the Home of cricket, etching her name in the iconic Lord's Honours board in the process.

However for Bhatia, all of it looked unfathomable until months ago.

Just last October, the 25-year-old from Vadodara was forced to undergo a surgery for the Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) on her left knee. 

The injury knocked her out of contention from India's victorious home World Cup campaign and even the Women's Premier League (WPL) which followed earlier this year.

It was only just a few months earlier that she was drafted back into the Indian team ahead of the 2026 ICC Women's T20 World Cup.

Returning to the team after more than 18 months, Bhatia hit a maiden half-century T20I half-century in the series against England before the World Cup.

The World Cup itself was a forgettable time for the wicket-keeper batter, scoring just 41 runs in three matches as India failed to go past the group stages.

But Bhatia managed to pull herself together ahead of the historic Test match, kept her cool to play a knock which will go down as one of the most iconic innings in women's cricket history.

"That one year was very tough phase," said Bhatia, reflecting on her injury and subsequent comeback.

"If someone had told me six months ago that I would have my name on the Lord's Honours Board, I wouldn't have believed them myself.

"It feels like a dream," she added.

For someone who was unsure of when she would be on the field next to becoming the first woman to score a Test century at Lord's, Bhatia is now cricketing royalty.