Mumbai: Yastika Bhatia’s century at Lord’s on Sunday was a milestone for Indian women’s cricket, but for her family it also marked the end of a difficult period. The 25-year-old wicketkeeper-batter became the first woman to score a Test hundred at Lord’s, making 113 off 158 balls with 14 fours on Day Three of the first woman’s Test at the “Home of Cricket” against England.Her father Harish Bhatia said the innings was the result of months of hard work following the knee injury that ruled Yastika out of the 2025 Women’s ODI World Cup and kept her away from cricket for about six months following ACL surgery in October.Speaking to TOI from Baroda, Harish recalled an incident from the Indian women’s team camp in Visakhapatnam last September that showed the bond Yastika has with her teammates.“All her teammates cried when Yastika was injured. They didn’t even let her pack her bags because she was injured, and they did this work for her. It was such a nice gesture from them. Later, they all checked on her when she was rehabbing at the BCCI Center of Excellence in Bengaluru. They said so nicely, ‘You were waiting for Yatika. His encouraging messages today, I want to thank all his fellow Indians for their support in this phase,” Harish Bhatia told TOI from Baroda.Harish said the injury had left Yastika disappointed as he wanted to help India in the ODI World Cup, but he quickly shifted his focus to return to international cricket.“Yastika was definitely down after the injury, as she wanted to help India win the ODI World Cup last year. However, she wanted India to win the 2026 Women’s T20 World Cup, and she said to me, ‘Dad, I will help India win the T20 World Cup’. Unfortunately, it could not happen, but she has scored a superb century at Lord’s now,” said Harish.He credited former Indian wicketkeeper Kiran More, who coached Yastika for years, for helping him through the recovery period and preparation for the England tour.“Yastika prepared very hard to prepare for the tour. The credit goes to Kiran More, who has been like a father figure for her, guiding her every step of the way. She always said: “Yastika, you are my best student”. During her injury phase, he kept encouraging her, telling her: “This phase will be over. It is only a matter of six months. Kiran sir trained her for hours together, both in wicketkeeping and batting. Yastika is also a hardworking and extremely disciplined cricketer. I have never seen him miss a single training session. When we bought a new house in Kanali in Vadodara, she was present for the “Griha Pravesh”, whose birthday we celebrated on November 1, but later, she was not there, because she was undergoing rehabilitation in CoE and was then with the Indian team,” said Harish Bhatia.I also thanked those who supported his return.“I would like to thank all her coaches and trainers, who helped her regain her fitness, CoE and Baroda, the BCCI, the selectors and the Indian women’s team coach Amol Muzumdar for showing faith in her abilities despite her ACL injury,” he added.More said Yastika’s century was the reward for his persistence after dealing with injuries and setbacks.“It was a great century, he played very well. He has always been very talented, but he has really struggled with injuries, and has often been left out in the past. However, Yastika has now proved his mettle with this special pitch in Lord’s Test,” More told TOI.Lord’s century followed another important contribution earlier in the England tour, when Yastika scored a match-winning 54 off 40 balls in the first T20I at Chelmsford. Before that, she had managed just 41 runs in four matches at an average of 13.66 during the 2026 Women’s T20 World Cup, where India went out in the league stage.Former Indian captain Diana Edulji believes the innings could be a turning point in Yastika’s career.“It was a fabulous century. I hope this is the turning point in Yastika’s career. He has to be injury free from here and focus on being consistent,” Edulji told TOI.With his hundred, Yastika also joined an elite list of Indian cricketers to score Test centuries at Lord’s. The list includes Vinoo Mankad (1952), Gundappa Viswanath (1979), Dilip Vengsarkar (1979, 1982 and 1986), Ravi Shastri (1990), Mohammed Azharuddin (1990), Sourav Ganguly (1996), Ajit Agarkar (1996), Ajit Agarkar (20), Dravid Rahul (20), Rahane (2014) and KL Rahul (2021). and 2025).