I am in such a Harlyssa mood right now.. so here is an AU idea (maybe I'll write it one day, or maybe not)
Both Harman and Alyssa are sports commenters in this. Ellyse and Meg are Alyssa and Mitchell's childhood friends. Meg still plays for Australia but Ellyse is Alyssa's assistant turned producer
Harman meets Deepti when the younger one, on her first day is trying to access the office. Deepti starts out as a quiet and timid girl, but over the years she blossoms into one of the best Producers in the game
One of Harman's first commentary gig comes in 2013 when she is asked to commentate a domestic Women's U19 match Gujarat vs Maharashtra. She watches in awe as a 17 year old becomes the first Indian woman to reach 200 runs in domestic (who will become her best friend after the match). One of her moments from that match gets viral on YouTube.
Harman is sharp, succinct and doesn't mince her words. She is everything that the current generation wants to hear in the commentary box. So her rise up is astonishingly fast. In fact she is one of the commentators sent by her company to the 2017 Women's Cricket World Cup.
This is where Harman and Alyssa cross paths for the first time. They both commentate for different channels in English.
And Alyssa has a certain pedigree (the Healy name is no joke in any English or Australian cricketing circles), her deadpan mannerisms and cutting sarcasm makes her a crowd favourite among the English and Aussies fans.
Harmanpreet Kaur has none of that, she is direct, blunt and has none of the charisma that seemingly oozes out of Alyssa. But she is new, she is exciting and she cares. Her anger at a badly hit shot, her irritation at a shitty ball, her joy when either of the teams does something particularly good. And people like that.
And because both are making their international commentary debut at the same time, they get compared and are pit against one another.
At one point the comparison gets so toxic that a few Older English fans bring out racist and Misogynistic slurs against Harman 'because how dare she be compared to someone related to Ian Healy'
As soon as she sees the hate brigade against Harman, Alyssa apologises to Harman in person and both of them exchange numbers and post selfies with each other on their respective social media, trying to bury the 'feud' that never happened.
After this they can like immediately get together or like loose contact (or maintain a professional acquaintanceship) and years down the line, when either Alyssa's or Harman's company takes over the other, they meet once again, now no longer rookies but the most respected commentators in the sport. Maybe they are forced to work together...
