In both the matches so far, Deol has done well © BCCI

One ball into her spell on Wednesday, Velocity's wily legspinner Amelia Kerr generously tossed up a delivery on middle stump, inviting the batter. Harleen Deol happily obliged, dancing down the track to get to the pitch of the ball and lifting it straight over the bowler's head for a one-bounce four. She hit four more in her top-scoring 40-ball effort of 43 for Trailblazers, but none of the others matched the audacity of her role model, Harmanpreet Kaur.

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Scorecards rarely reveal the full story.

Deol's T20I debut against England two months ago, as a replacement for the injured skipper Harmanpreet, was far from ideal, but she oozed confidence in a 10-ball stay for eight runs. She has a total of 25 now, in three outings so far, but also the confidence of the captain she started under. Deol, after all, had been fasttracked to the national side on the back of a 29-ball 21 in the warm-up, also led by Smriti Mandhana, after knocking down selectors' doors with her consistent performances for both Himachal U23 and senior sides.

It wasn't a surprise that she made it to Trailblazers' squad in this year's expanded, three-team Women's T20 Challenge. It was pleasing, though, to find Mandhana in-charge of that team. That holds true conversely also, though.

Deol forged a match-winning 119 run stand with Mandhana in the face of an early, key wicket of Suzie Bates in the tournament opener against Supernovas on Monday. She might have only 36 runs to show for her 17-over stay in the middle in a century partnership but Deol, an attacking batter otherwise, showcased her vast potential by playing an anchor to perfection.

Having a partner in whose abilities Mandhana has shown immense faith could afford the Trailblazers skipper some breathing space when she struggled initially to time the ball. While the Supernovas focussed their energies on getting the big fish out, Mandhana demanded Deol to go for the boundaries. Deol responded aptly. When the captain finally found her groove, and boundaries, Deol happily took the backseat to offer the captain the strike she wanted. Deol provided the launchpad and Mandhana, the fireworks.

"It was really important for us to stay there and create a partnership. Really proud of the way she batted. Whatever I asked [of her] she was doing that. [I said] try and hit a boundary, she did that; [I'd say] give me strike and she was doing that. So, I'm really proud of the way she took responsibility," Mandhana said of her partner in the 119-run stand after the game, admitting it helped them get bonus 15 runs above what would have been par on the slow track.

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Unlike in the previous game, Deol's effort was trumped by Velocity's little-known 15-year-old Shafali Verma and the destructive Dannielle Wyatt, but definitely grabbed eye balls. Coming in to bat as early as in the third over, and beaten off the third delivery, Deol quickly regained her composure and clipped the last ball of the over to wide of deep midwicket fence - her timing even beating a diving effort from Wyatt - before taking the backseat. Bates was looking good, and Deol restored to the anchor role by rotating the strike aptly with the former New Zealand captain.

But when Bates holed out to long-on off the first ball of the ninth over with 50 runs on the board, and new batter Stafanie Taylor continuing to struggle to adapt to the slow pitch, Deol took it upon herself to blaze a new trail.

Kerr came under the attack again as Deol cut a short and wide delivery behind point to fetch herself another boundary. When she finally found some steady support in Deepti Sharma, it was time to make up for the dots in the rebuilding phase. A cheeky boundary off Kerr, again, propelled her strike-rate above 100 for the first time in the game. Kerr eventually won the battle two balls later when Deol jogged down the track again to attempt an encore but this time found the long-on fielder. She had contributed only 43 of Trailblazers' 100 runs at the point of her dismissal, but made her team and captain cent percent proud.

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"The way she was batting, she was looking very positive and she was looking very good. I don't think there is any problem in that even if she got out [cheaply]. Because I just want the players to look confident and if they are confident enough, I don't look at what they have scored. It is just her first match... We wouldn't be looking at too many changes just because of the loss. Definitely she will be getting her chances," Mandhana had said of Deol's batting after the latter's maiden T20I in Guwahati.

In Jaipur, even though her contributions got buried, first by her skipper's 90 and then due to the team's loss, Deol stood out as the common denominator in Trailblazers' contrasting fortunes inside three days. Perhaps she's benefiting from the fact that away from the comforts of her state team, Mandhana - also a good friend off the field - has been her captain almost every step of the way so far - looking beyond just the numbers, giving her confidence on the pitch and pro tips off it.