Chinelle Henry lights up Chinnaswamy with Andre Russell-inspired 'range hitting'

"When he hits it, it stays hit. So, you know, it's just, something that I do."

Chinelle Henry looks up to her fellow countryman Andre Russell. Her wild innings of 62 against Delhi Capitals that propelled UP Warriorz to their first win of WPL 2025 did remind many of his power-hitting and the ability to snatch the momentum and turn the team's fortune around.

Henry, though new to WPL, isn't new to T20 cricket. The West Indies allrounder has been playing international cricket for more than a decade now and is a regular in the WCPL. As a senior player in the Warriorz set-up, Henry has eased into the WPL, thanks to her role clarity which stemmed from conversations she had with the head coach Jon Lewis.

"I knew the task, I knew what I had to do," Henry said after Saturday's match. She went on to elaborate that it's "the freedom to go out there and bat" from Lewis that "put her in a better space". This power of her uncluttered mind was visible in tangible terms, in her performances so far: an unbeaten 33 off 15 and a 23-ball 62, both against Delhi Capitals, in Vadodara and Bengaluru, respectively.

The latest knock had an even better impact with Henry coming in at No.8 when Warriorz were reeling at 89 for 6 in 14.4 overs, and lifting them to a match-winning score of 177 for 9. Until she arrived, the atmosphere at the Chinnaswamy Stadium was somber. Though it was a Saturday evening, the neutral game did not witness a sell-out crowd. A quick look at the stands also revealed there were many people in Capitals jerseys, cheering for the likes of Indian superstars Jemimah Rodrigues and Shafali Verma. Yellow and violet jerseys? One could count them.

But it took only four deliveries for Henry to make the Chinnaswamy roar in joy and disbelief. She first smashed a slower, short ball from Arundhati Reddy with ferocious power over deep midwicket for an 81-metre six to start the proceedings. Reddy changed her length and bowled full on the stumps, but Henry still deposited this one over the same region. The crowd, which had not seen Henry until then in the flesh, was now well and truly alive with people up on their feet, clapping joyously to each of her sixes.

"Obviously, I went to bat with my team in a little bit of trouble," she said. "I knew the task, I knew what I had to do. You know, before I went to bat, John just said to me, just do what you do and have fun. And, you know, the freedom that I get to just go out there and bat, regardless of the situation the team is in, just put me in a better space to perform. And I think, you know, that's what happened tonight."

In the next over, she got a life when Marizanne Kapp dropped a chance at deep midwicket, and Henry made sure Kapp would not forget that costly mistake.

Though the ball was doing a bit off the seam whenever Capitals bowled slower balls, Henry "didn't really pay attention to any of that." Shikha Pandey, bowling the 17th over, was not spared either. Length balls outside off stumps were slashed towards extra cover and short third as if Henry was waiting for it. When Pandey bowled in the slot, Henry launched one six over long-on and another over the bowler's head. Pandey ended up conceding 24 runs in six balls.

Henry was not done yet.

Meg Lanning brought in Annabel Sutherland, who is usually effective with her variations, but it didn't work against the West Indian. A full ball bowled wide of off and a slower back of a length ball on her pads were both sent to boundaries. Henry would later reveal that a lot of "range-hitting at the nets" helped to straightaway swing her bat at the death.

"Obviously, most of the time they were bowling to my strengths, and it was just about backing my ability, backing my strengths," she said. "And tonight it paid off. And that's just something that I will continue to do throughout the tournament.

"When we go to training, you know, the head coach, the first thing he asks is what you want to do, obviously, is what you're going to do in the game. So make sure you get what you want out of training that you're going to do in the game. And obviously, when we go in the nets, for me, basically, it's just about throwdowns. Range hitting, I do that a lot.

"Because most of the times when I go into bat, it's probably like five overs to go. That's the time that I have to go. So when I'm in the nets training, that's basically what I do."

Reddy came back for the penultimate over with a bag full of variations and still perished against Henry. A full toss was followed by a slower delivery, and even though Henry was beaten by pace, she somehow managed to put both these deliveries to the fence. Henry then swiveled and pulled a short ball to equal the record for the fastest fifty.

"That's just what I practice in training all day, every day, once I have a T20 cricket," Henry explained her role as a finisher at Warriorz.

"You know, some of the times they would obviously test, the weakness, which is obviously bowling into the pads, because that's obviously something that I need to work on. But most of the times, it's just my strengths, which obviously, for the past two games, is what I've been doing well.

"And it doesn't matter where they bowl, whatever the ball is doing, once it's in that arc, I'm going to back my strengths, I'm going to back my ability, and I'm just going to smack it."

On Saturday, she smacked eight sixes and two fours overall.

Russell may not be around in India yet but surely, we can get used to Henry trying to emulate her idol with her own explosive and inspiring knocks.