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India Women’s late order of Sneh Rana, Shikha Pandey and Taniya Bhatia fought hard to hand India an inspiring draw in the one-off Test against England Women at Bristol.
The fourth and final day of the only Test between England Women and India Women was a rollercoaster ride for everyone involved. The momentum kept swinging for both teams several times. India needed something special from their batters in order to save the Test match, and half a dozen of them stepped up to snatch an incredible draw from the jaws of England.
As it happened, India started the day on 83/1 with Shafali Verma on 55 and Deepti Sharma on 18 at the crease. Verma smashed a six straight over Sophie Ecclestone’s head to become the only women’s batter to hit three sixes in a Test match. In the same over, she tried to go big again off a full toss and was caught on the long-on by Katherine Brunt for 63.
After Verma’s dismissal, Deepti and Punam Raut batted with great assurance and rock-solid defence. The pair put on a valuable partnership of 72 runs for the third wicket. Deepti brought up her valiant half-century, but soon after, the southpaw tried to slog sweep Ecclestone and chopped on for 54 on the stroke of lunch.
The wicket came as a ray of hope for the hosts as they looked rejuvenated after lunch. Things went downhill for India as what followed was another middle-order collapse. The captain, Mithali Raj, couldn’t live up to the expectations as she got clean bowled on 4, trying to cut a delivery off Ecclestone. The next one to go was Raut, who was well set on 39, tried to pull a delivery off Nat Sciver only to be caught at square leg. India had lost three wickets for four runs.
Six overs later, Pooja Vastrakar attempted a slog-sweep off Heather Knight and was clean bowled on 12. Harmanpreet Kaur didn’t learn her lesson and tried a slog sweep against Ecclestone to hand Amy Jones an easy catch off a top edge. England had a firm grip on the match with the visitors reduced to 199/7 with more than fifty overs still to be played.
The big question was, can India Women pull off something like Sydney 2020/21?
The 27-year-old debutant Sneh Rana took charge and started the resistance along with Shikha Pandey. The pair batted out 17 overs and added 41 runs for the eighth wicket before Sciver strangled Pandey down the leg. Pandey walked back to the pavilion with a distraught look after a 50-ball-18 knock.
Rana was joined by another debutant, the 23-year-old Taniya Bhatia. The duo batted cautiously but kept putting the bad balls away. After Tea, Rana and Bhatia scored fifty plus runs in quick time to take the lead past 100 and reduce any chance of an England win. The England skipper Knight threw everything at the visitors, but the duo remained unfazed. With only 12 overs remaining in the day, the teams shook hands to confirm what would be a spectacular draw for India.
The player of the moment, Rana, who had picked 4 wickets in the first innings, ended with a score of unbeaten 80. Her partner in crime, Bhatia, remained unbeaten on 44. The duo put on an unbroken partnership of 104 runs for the ninth wicket to hand India a draw from a disastrous situation.
Sophie Ecclestone was the standout bowler for England, picking four wickets in each innings. India’s Shafali Verma took home the player of the match award for her glorious debut in Test cricket with 96 & 63 in two innings. The draw is an achievement for India Women, which could inspire them to greater heights in the near future.
Brief Scores
England 396/9 decl (Knight 95, Beaumont 66, Dunkley 74*, Rana 4/131, Deepti 3/65)
India 231 (Verma 96, Mandhana 78, Ecclestone 4/88, Knight 2/7)
India 344/8 (Rana 80*, Verma 63, Deepti 54, Ecclestone 4/118, Sciver 2/21)
