England Women made full use of the good batting conditions as they piled on the runs in the first couple of sessions. Each of the top four batters got good starts. At 230/2, things looked bleak for India Women, but the off-spin duo of Deepti Sharma and Sneh Rana got four wickets late in the day to help India Women stage a fightback.
India Women returned to Test cricket after almost seven long years, and it wasn’t really the best day possible. It could’ve been a lot worse if not for a late fightback from the off-spin duo of Deepti Sharma and Sneh Rana, who got four wickets in the final session to restore some parity. England Women dominated the first day for the most part barring the last hour and a half.
Heather Knight won the toss and had absolutely no hesitation in batting first. It was a used pitch, and 37 overs of a Vitality T20 Blast game was played before. Five players made their debut for India (Deepti Sharma, Pooja Vastrakar, Shafali Verma, Sneh Rana and Taniya Bhatia), while England had one in Sophia Dunkey.
The Indian new-ball bowlers bowled excellent first spells. Jhulan Goswami and Shikha Pandey troubled the England openers with the new ball. However, they couldn’t get a breakthrough. Goswami had Lauren Winfield-Hill edging one to first slip in the seventh over, but Smriti Mandhana shelled the chance.
Once Lauren Winfield-Hill and Tammy Beaumont saw off the opening spells of Goswami and Pandey, they started scoring a lot more freely. Winfield-Hill, in particular, was severe on anything short and struck a couple of big sixes, one each off Pooja Vastrakar and Pandey. The England opening pair added 69 runs before Winfield-Hill edged one to Taniya Bhatia behind the stumps to give Vastrakar her first Test wicket. That gave India something to cheer about in the first session.
However, skipper Heather Knight walked in and built on the strong start. Alongside Beaumont, Knight piled on the runs and misery on the Indian bowlers. The experienced duo added 71 runs for the second wicket, and Beaumont went past the 50-run mark. It was once again in the second half of the session that India managed to get a breakthrough.
Sneh Rana got her maiden Test scalp as she dismissed Beaumont as the latter inside-edged one to short-leg where Shafali Verma took a sharp catch. But there was no respite for the visitors. The arrival of Nat Sciver only helped England up the ante a bit. Sciver and Knight unfurled a flurry of shots on either side of the Tea interval and pushed England into a dominant position.
Knight had notched up her third Test half-century and was looking solid. Sciver looked pretty dangerous, and things seemed pretty flat for India. There were regular boundaries, and the runs flowed pretty easily. Sciver also had a life as Deepti Sharma dropped a tough chance.
When it looked like England would drive home the advantage and pile on the misery, India roared back with a flurry of wickets. Deepti had Sciver LBW in the 73rd over, and that started India’s turnaround. Sciver was dismissed for 42, and at that stage, England’s score was 230. A couple of overs later, Rana then had Amy Jones pinned in front before Deepti got the big fish and the well-set Knight for 95.
Mithali Raj delayed the second new ball and continued bowling the two off-spinners, and Rana justified that call as she had Georgia Elwiss edging one to first slip. From 230/2, England slipped to 251/6 in the space of nine overs.
Debutant Sophia Dunkley and Katherine Brunt took England to stumps without any further damage. The duo have added 18 runs so far. India opted to take the new ball in the 89th over and bowled sent in four overs with it. England finished the day on 269/6 as Rana took three wickets while Deepti accounted for a couple. Knight, Beaumont and Sciver were the top scorers for England.
Brief Scores
England Women 269/6 (Knight 95, Beaumont 66, Sciver 42, Rana 3/77, Sharma 2/50, Vastrakar 1/43) vs India Women
