The year was 2011. A school-going Yastika Bhatia was opening for the Under-19 girls team against the U-14 boys in a three-day match. These were a fixture in Baroda in those days. The then 11-year-old hit 30 odd runs, and next day, an exam loomed large. After writing the paper between 7:30 and 8:15 in the morning, Yastika then quickly changed into her kit and made the 30-35 minute trip to the ground, her father driving her there. She went on to score a fifty, and it was the first time that the girls had drawn a match with the boys.

Yastika’s parents put her commitment to the game down to passion.

It was the same passion which got the Baroda player through a dark eight-month phase which involved recovering from a serious ACL injury, to becoming the first-ever woman Test centurion at the storied Lord’s Cricket Ground.

Yastika’s inning would not reflect the reality of how sporadic her stints in the national set up have been, with most part of the last two years spent stumbling from one injury to the next.

But on Day 3 at Lord’s, she took a single on her 125th ball with perhaps a slight wobble in her gait — a reminder of what she’s been through to get to this point — to notch up a historic ton.

ALSO READ | History wears white: How Indian women’s team crowned a landmark at Lord’s

The Bhatia family rarely indulges in shop talk when Yastika is touring. This time, though, a few minutes were set aside to congratulate her.

“Yes, we were watching every ball because we follow all of the matches, especially India matches. We were elated because this was the first-of-a-kind achievement. We told her how proud we were and how all her sacrifices made so far have given her this first step towards more such moments,” Garima, Yastika’s mother, told Sports stars from their Baroda home.

Yastika had picked up the ACL issue in the preparatory camp in Visakhapatnam ahead of the 2025 ODI World Cup, which India famously won, thereby ruling her out of the tournament. She eventually missed the 2026 Women’s Premier League too. Yastika underwent an ACL reconstruction procedure under renowned sports surgeon Dr. Dinshaw Pardiwala last September and moved to the Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru soon after for rehabilitation.

“It started with upper body exercises. After Dr. Pardiwala gave the green signal, lower body excercises began. Her mother was with her in Bengaluru but I was here in Baroda with my other daughter, but for a few days we went to visit Yastika. It was a small family gathering in Bengaluru. She continued the rehab process there because she didn’t want to miss the England series, the T20 World Cup, and the Test. She had told us that if we wanted to meet her, we could just go visit her,” Harish, Yastika’s father, recalled.

“She’s so passionate about cricket. Very rarely has she ever given up hope in tough situations. She did have low phases, but never threw in the towel. Kiran (More) sir and her childhood coach, Santosh Chowgule, both used to keep her motivated. The CoE was also taking good care of her. Even her teammates Smriti (Mandhana), Jemimah (Rodrigues), Harmanpreet (Kaur), and Amol (Muzumdar) sir also, would check up on her,” Garima added.

“I was there with her for almost seven months because I knew this was a tough phase and I didn’t want to leave her alone. She was allowed to walk after some time, so we used to go down for walks in the garden, enjoying the Bengaluru weather.”

ALSO READ | Yastika Bhatia says it is ‘unbelievable’ to be on Lord’s honours board

The value of patience is a lesson hard learned by the Bhatia family, but this was the most testing injury phase in the 25-year-old’s career so far. In 2024, Yastika suffered a couple of injuries — a Posterior Cruciate Ligament (PCL) injury during the Bangladesh tour and a wrist injury while playing in Australia’s Women’s Big Bash League the same year. However, those involved far shorter recovery periods.

“This was her longest injury. Her other ones were 20 days; the PCL injury was three months. Those were easier to handle compared to this. There were no series that time so she could easily go through the rehab. But here, she missed the World Cup, then the WPL, and then the South Africa series. But she stayed patient and kept saying it was a matter of six months before she returned to action,” Harish said.

“She’s back”

While the family was there to give a sense of familiarity to Yastika through the tough times off the field, this role was played by Kiran More on it.

The former India wicketkeeper-batter has seen Yastika from her debut series in Australia in 2021.

The renowned coach and scout squeezed in technical sessions, whether it was in-person in the nets in Baroda whenever she could fly down or over the phone.

Wicketkeeping, More says, was never an issue post-injury. It was the batting and the running between the wickets, something he felt will only get better with time.

“I didn’t change anything about her technique. The main aim was to make sure she’s match-fit. Every time we did the next session, we made sure she was ready. That was important because the season is long,” More, who has also worked with Yastika at Mumbai Indians, said.

During the Test, Yastika kept wickets in place of incumbent Richa Ghosh. More firmly believes Yastika can give Richa competition.

“Yastika is a better wicketkeeper, there’s no doubt about it and I feel that she should also keep wickets in ODIs and T20Is. It’s up to the selectors and coaches but that’s my opinion. (On whether Yastika is a regular fixture in the team now) 100 per cent. She’s back and the selectors, Amol, and Harmanpreet are backing her. It’s good to see them back the players. That’s very important,” More explained.

ALSO READ | ICC endorses Afghan refugee women’s development programme, re-constitutes taskforce

Muzumdar made a key declaration after India’s Lord’s triumph to back More’s call.

“She was tormented by some serious injuries and I was really impressed how she came out of that, defied all of it, and stayed true to the game. We’ve been very clear in the group. In red-ball cricket, whenever she was available, Yastika has been our first-choice keeper,” the Indian head coach said.

India’s next international red-ball fixture is in December against South Africa, after a white-ball series against Zimbabwe. Before these two, there are the Asian Games. Yastika has not been named in the pool headed to Japan, with young G. Kamalini coming back in the outfit. Whether Yastika’s name comes back in discussions remains to be seen.

All this notwithstanding, in that moment at Lord’s, when she scribbled her name on the honours board in the away dressing room with her family watching on from the confines of a mobile screen, to the tune of her teammates chanting, “Yasti, Yasti”, this left-handed boundary-loving fighter knew she was truly back.

Published on Jul 14, 2026