AUS v IND, Pink-ball Test: India stand tall to take the honours in draw

A fixture that kicked off with Meg Lanning winning her fourth consecutive toss of the series and putting the visitors in to bat on Carrara Oval’s drop-in surface, witnessed three declarations, two on the final day alone. The curtains came down on India’s astonishingly remarkable debut in day-night Tests, stretching their unbeaten streak in multi-day cricket to six matches.

The debate whether women’s Tests should have a fifth day gathered further topicality in the wake of rain eating into the bulk of the overs on the first two days. With only one Test in the women’s game ever having been a five-day fixture and seven out of 142 women’s Tests ever having had three declarations, as opposed to six out of 2,433 in men’s Tests, the debate for an additional day will likely rage on as Australia gear up to host England for the multi-format Ashes early next year.

It was the first time they played with the pink ball and their faces tell you the story!

Well done, girls! #TeamIndia?? #PinkballTest #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/h1eKRcuG8F

— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) October 3, 2021

ELLYSE PERRY ONE OF THE GREATEST!

Before Lanning offered Mithali Raj the draw at the drinks breaks in the closing session on Sunday, Goswami and Pooja Vastrakar had taken out Australia’s openers, Healy and Beth Mooney, inside 10 overs. By the time the captains shook hands, with Lanning delivering a congratulatory word to first-innings centurion and Player of the Match Smriti Mandhana, Ellyse Perry added yet another unbeaten Test innings to her name, albeit a 14-ball 1, having made 213*, 116, 76*, and 68* earlier on Sunday, in her four most-recent outings in the format.

India’s second innings followed an action-filled opening session as Perry’s charmed life continued with her becoming the first Australian woman to score four straight Test fifties. Perry, who took her 300th international wicket on day three, struck an unbeaten 203-ball 68, helping the hosts weather a scintillating swing-bowling burst with the second new ball and escorted them past the follow-on score of 228. A collapse of 5 for 32, including the fall of the ninth wicket shortly before dinner break, saw Lanning declare on 241 for 9, with Australia still 136 behind.

Dropped on 58 and 61 on day four, having survived on 2 and 8 during a nervy session under lights the previous night, Perry’s Test average, by the onset of the interval, had soared to 86.50 – the best ever in women’s Tests for a player to have batted at least 10 innings. She built on her overnight score of 27 with an attacking approach from as early as the first ball of the session, even in the face of Goswami’s mostly flawless charge in the corridor of uncertainty.

A DRAW WAS INEVITABLE!

Facing an overnight deficit of 85 to avoid follow-on, Perry found able support in Gardner, who was dropped on 20 by a diving Vastrakar at gully off Rajeshwari Gayakwad. The left-arm spinner had three previous chances shelled in the series, and remained wicketless across three innings. Perry and Gardner punished anything short and wide that came their way. In a commanding display of back-foot strokeplay, the duo steered Australia from 119 for 4 to 208.

India took the new ball at the 80-over mark, and their three-pronged pace attack found their day-two mojo back soon, moving the ball both ways off the seam. The scoreboard could have read 219 for 8 had Deepti not shelled a sharp chance off Meghna Singh at gully when Perry was on 58. The debutant, having taken her maiden Test wicket with a peach of an outswinger to Annabel Sutherland, wouldn’t long be away from a second wicket, though. She nipped back the next ball into the left-hander Sophie Molineux and had her trapped in front.

After debutant Stella Campbell faced her first delivery in Test cricket, Lanning sprung the declaration somewhat surprisingly. Anything but a draw, however, predictably remained the likeliest result through the best part of the day.

The draw meant both teams earned two points each, as Australia maintained a 6-4 lead in the multiformat series. The T20I leg of the tour gets underway with the first of the three-match series to be played on October 7.