The Indian women’s team will play its maiden D/N Test on the tour of Australia in September-October, adding to the sense of excitement around its visit. Initially announced by the BCCI secretary Jay Shah on Twitter, the news of Indian women’s historic first encounter in the pink-ball version was confirmed by Cricket Australia on Thursday.
When they step on the field for their clash against the Aussies at WACA on September 30, India will become only the third women’s team in the world after Australia and England to play a day-night Test match. Previously, the Ashes rivals indulged in a pink-ball outing back in 2017.
India and Australia have played against each other in nine bilateral Test matches in the history of women’s cricket, the last of which dates back to 2006 when the latter defeated the former in a one-off encounter in Adelaide. Overall, the Aussie women have clinched victories in four of those nine games, with the rest five ending in draws.
This year marks the end of a seven-year drought of playing Tests for the Indian women’s team, as they’ll also face England in a standalone encounter in June. Mithali Raj and company last played a Test in 2014 at home against South Africa but now have the opportunity to play both England and Australia in the traditional whites this year.
Besides the two Test matches, the Indian women will also face the Aussies and the English in respective series of ODIs and T20Is on their trips. The Indian women’s team is currently in Mumbai going through their pre-departure quarantine ahead of the all-format tour to the UK, beginning June 16 with the Test. The ODIs against England will be played on June 27, 30 and July 3, followed by the T20Is on June 9, 11 and 15, respectively.
At least five Indian women’s star players will then take part in the inaugural season of The Hundred before travelling Down Under. In Australia, the ODIs will be held on September 19, 22 and 24 and T20Is on October 7, 9 and 11, respectively, with the historic Test match sandwiched between the two formats.
Both Mithali Raj and Meg Lanning, the India and Australia women’s team Test captains expressed their excitement about the series, especially the chance to wear the whites again.
India Women’s tour of Australia, 2021
1st ODI: September 19, North Sydney Oval (D/N)
2nd ODI: September 22, Junction Oval, Melbourne
3rd ODI: September 24, Junction Oval, Melbourne
One-off Test: September 30 – October 3, WACA (D/N)
1st T20I: October 7, North Sydney Oval (N)
2nd T20I: October 9, North Sydney Oval (N)
3rd T20I: October 11, North Sydney Oval (N)
“As players, we’ve said for a long time that we’d love to play more Test matches. It’s an exciting prospect and I know (India) are heading over to England to play a Test match pretty soon so it shows they’re up for the challenge and really willing to play that format.”
Lanning was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.
The assignment in England will mark the return of former India off-spinner Ramesh Powar as the coach of the women’s team after a controversial first tenure back in 2018. Another ex men’s cricketer, Shiv Sundar Das, will be accompanying Powar as the batting coach.
The BCCI on Wednesday (May 19) also announced the list of centrally contracted senior India women’s players for a period starting October 2020 and culminating in September 2021. The board has faced widespread criticism for a massive gap in annual retainership fees when compared to that of the men’s team players.
