Smriti Mandhana's unbeaten 80 headlined the action on the opening day of the one-off day/night Test against Australia.
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India Women will certainly be quite confident at the end of Day 1 of the ongoing pink-ball Test against Australia Women, with opener Smriti Mandhana unbeaten on 80. Smriti has accumulated the tally of runs in 144 deliveries with 15 boundaries and a six to her credit. Fellow opener Shafali Verma also looked quite confident during her short innings of 31 runs from 64 balls which included four fours. Punam Raut is the other batswoman barring Smriti at the crease, with 16 runs to her credit. Punam has accumulated the tally of runs from 57 deliveries, with a boundary to her credit. Sophie Molineux was the only Australian bowler to have accounted for a dismissal, with Ellyse Perry, Darcie Brown, Stella Campbell, Tahlia McGrath, Ashleigh Gardner and Annabel Sutherland the other players deployed with the ball.
The Indian lineup does not include Sneh Rana and fast-bowler Shikha Pandey, which are certainly interesting and controversial decisions. Meghna Singh and Yastika Bhatia have been rewarded with an opportunity, following a fine performance in the recently concluded ODI series against Australia. Australia have named four debutantes – including three teenagers for the one-off Test. All-rounder Annabel Sutherland (19), pace pair Darcie Brown (18) and Stella Campbell (19), and leg-spinner Georgia Wareham are donning the Baggy Green for the first time.
Both the captains sounded supremely confident going into the encounter.
“It is really exciting, India obviously is a great cricketing nation, they love their cricket and to have them playing a Test match is super exciting. We’re all looking forward to kicking off the first of many to come, hopefully, it’s not just a one-off and we can go and play a Test in India over the next few years. I think that would be a really cool thing to do so, hopefully, it’s just the start of something really special,” said Australia captain Meg Lanning as quoted by ICC.
Mithali seemed very confident going into the encounter, adding that the team was definitely confident.
“The team is definitely confident. The team is quite excited. It’s a different experience for us to play with the pink ball in a day-night game. Usually, the Test is played in the day and what we played against England was with the red ball. So it is going to be very different,” she said.
“They should be one of the best fast-bowling attacks that the Indian team has (had). Of course with the huge experience that Jhulan (Goswami) has, and the way she’s been performing for the Indian team, and a young speedster like Meghna Singh who has come in for her first series, she’s been very impressive. And Pooja Vastrakar, who’s made a comeback after two years, we’re trying to shape her into an allrounder. These girls have been working very hard on their skills, I’m quite happy to see that, and the results are there to see for the team and for everybody,” added Mithali.
Pink-ball Test, Day 1 Brief Scores: India (132/1 in 44.1 overs) vs Australia women. Smriti (80*), Shafali (31); Molineux (1/18).
Lineups:
Australia XI: Alyssa Healy (wk), Beth Mooney, Meg Lanning (c), Ellyse Perry, Tahlia McGrath, Ashleigh Gardner, Annabel Sutherland, Sophie Molineux, Georgia Wareham, Darcie Brown, Stella Campbell
India XI: Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Punam Raut, Mithali Raj (c), Yastika Bhatia, Deepti Sharma, Tania Bhatia (wk), Pooja Vastrakar, Jhulan Goswami, Meghna Singh, Rajeshwari Gayakwad.
