India Women’s opening batter Smriti Mandhana scored 127 on the first two days of the pink ball day-night Test on Thursday. However, the weather played spoilsport, washing out almost four sessions of play on the first two days.
India had an outstanding start to the Test, with Mandhana becoming the first Indian woman to register a century in the pink-ball Test and India posting 276/5 at the end of day two. Thunderstorms and rain swept across Queensland as only 44 and 57 overs of play could happen on the first two days, respectively.
Meg Lanning won the toss and decided to send India in to exploit help from a greenish pitch and pink ball. But Indian openers had other plans as Mandhana came out with a positive impact and imposed herself on Australian bowlers.
She started with two boundaries in debutant Darcie Brown’s first over and maintained almost a run-a-ball ratio. In the eighth over of the innings, she smashed four boundaries in an over of Brown. The duo brought up a fifty-run stand in the 12th over.
Shafali Verma also started to open her shoulders, scoring two consecutive fours off Stella Campbell in the 14th over. Mandhana brought up her fifty off just 51 balls with a delightful cover drive off Tahlia McGrath in the next over.
The left-arm spinner Sophie Molineux did a fantastic job to control the run-flow and created a couple of opportunities against Verma. One edge went between keeper and first slip while Annabel Sutherland dropped an easy one at mid-on.
Verma’s luck ran out soon as her another attempt to hit a big shot against spin resulted in a simple catch at mid-off. Molineux finally had her prey as McGrath picked a safe catch. Verma’s knock ended on 31 off 64, with an opening partnership falling seven short of hundred.
India’s run-scoring went cold afterwards as they only scored eight runs in eight overs before the dinner break. After the break, only a few overs’ play could happen before a thunderstorm arrived and players had to be taken off.
The play resumed after two hours, and Mandhana pulled McGrath for a six on the third ball before putting another delivery to deep midwicket boundary in Tahlia’s next over. Another spell of rain-interrupted meant no further play could happen with India on 132/1.
Mandhana resumed her innings the second day on 80 but was given a reprieve in the second over. She hit a low full toss straight to Beth Mooney at cover-point but turned out Ellyse Perry had overstepped. Mandhana made full use of that chance and brought up her maiden century in Test cricket. Her innings ended on 127, when she fell for a trap, stepping out to Ashleigh Gardner to hit a flighted delivery straight to the catching mid-off.
Mandhana added 102 runs for the second wicket with Punam Raut, who walked off after edging a delivery by Molineux to the keeper despite the umpire declining the appeal.
Perry bowled a brilliant spell with the second new ball and got a deserved wicket, when Yastika Bhatia (19) edged a tailing in full toss to gully. Captain Mithali Raj got the start but was run out on 30, courtesy of a brilliant direct hit from Sutherland.
When day two ended, India Women were 276/5, with Deepti Sharma (12*) and Bhatia (0*) at the crease. With two days remaining and not even one innings completed, the Test could be heading towards a draw.
Day three was the first time that a full day’s play was possible. There were barely any interruptions, and 103.1 overs were bowled. India Women continued batting and frustrating the Aussies.
The runs didn’t exactly flow, but the batters consumed time and overs. Bhatia and Sharma shared a 45-run stand before the former nicked one-off Stella Campbell.
Pooja Vastrakar joined Deepti in the middle and the pair added 40 runs for the seventh wicket. In the meantime, Deepti also composed a fine half-century, piling on the misery for the Australia.
Once Deepti was dismissed for 66, the declaration came an over later as India Women finished on 377/8, and they had batted out 43.1 overs of day three. Perry, Campbell and Molineux took two wickets each.
WIth the ball, Jhulan Goswami was magnificent and she put on a masterclass as she troubled the Australian Women’s batters. The veteran Indian fast bowler knocked over Beth Mooney in the seventh over before skipper Lanning and Alyssa Healy put on 49 runs for the second wicket. However, Goswami came back and set up Healy beautifully. She softened the Aussie wicket-keeper with some short stuff before inducing the edge.
Indian Women continued picking wickets as Vastrakar dismissed Lanning and McGrath in the final session. Lanning was unlucky to be given out LBW despite getting an inside-edge on to the pad. The Indian bowlers bowled tight lines and were rewarded well too.
Every time it seemed like Australia Women are running away with a solid partnership, the Indian bowlers produced a wicket. At 119/4 and 10 overs to go under lights, Australia Women were in a bit of trouble. But Perry and Gardner batted it out and took Australia Women to stumps. The hosts are still 84 runs adrift from avoiding the follow-on. However, there isn’t much time left in this game with just one day to go.
Brief Scores
India W – 377/8 in 145 overs (Mandhana 127, Sharma 66, Raut 36; Molineux 2/45, Campbell 2/47) vs Australia W – 143/4 in 60 overs (Lanning 38, Perry 27*, Goswami 2/27, Vastrakar 2/31)
