The Indian Women’s team batters showed great skills as they posted 410 runs on the opening day of the one-off Test played at DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai on 14th December 2023. It was an impressive batting performance as Shuba Satheesh, Jemimah Rodrigues, Yastika Bhatia, and Deepti Sharma scored half-centuries.
Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss and decided to bat first. Smriti Mandhana looked in good touch with some lovely shots along with luck as she was dropped by Tammy Beaumont. Lauren Bell got the breakthrough dismissing Mandhana taking inside edge onto the stumps. Kate Cross produced a stunning delivery to shatter the stumps of Shafali Varma to leave India in trouble.
Jemimah Rodrigues and Shubha Satheesh made their Test debuts. Both batters showed intent putting bad deliveries away for boundaries. Shubha Satheesh played some lovely strokes to put enough pressure on England’s bowlers. Jemimah also looked impressive against disciplined pace bowling by Flier, Cross and Bell.
Shubha Satheesh completed a half-century off 49 balls and kept the scoreboard ticking along with Rodrigues. It was a superb batting performance by Satheesh and Rodrigues. Satheesh was dropped by Heather Knight off the final delivery before lunch break. At the end of the lunch break, Indian women scored 136 for 2 in 27 overs.
After the lunch break, Satheesh and Rodrigues continued to milk the England bowling. Sophie Ecclestone ended a superb partnership by getting rid of Satheesh caught by Nat Sciver Brunt. Satheesh and Rodrigues added 115 runs for the 3rd wicket.
Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur came to the crease and played cautiously initially. Rodrigues completed fifty off 82 deliveries. Lauren Bell produced a stunning delivery to get rid of Rodrigues to bring back England into the game.
Yastika Bhatia showed positive intent along with Harmanpreet Kaur. Both batters kept the momentum going playing the spinners and pacers decently. Yastika Bhatia was given a reprieve as Lauren Bell dropped a sitter. Bhatia and Kaur kept the scoreboard ticking hitting boundaries at will. The Indian women’s team ended the 2nd session at 261 for 4.
Harmanpreet Kaur and Bhatia continued to keep the scoreboard ticking after the tea break. Bhatia kept hitting attacking shots reaching fifty off 66 balls. Both Indian batters showed great skills and made the batting look easy. The Indian captain Kaur was dismissed in an unfortunate manner as her bat got stuck while going back. Kaur and Bhatia added 116 runs for the 5th wicket.
Soon after, Yastika Bhatia was dismissed trying to hit a big shot caught by Lauren Bell at mid-on. The England team’s fielding and catching could not match expectations.
Deepti Sharma and Sneha Rana looked impressive with their shots not allowing them to settle. England captain Knight took the second new ball after being available. Deepti Sharma and Rana showed skills before Nat Sciver Brunt produced a lovely delivery to dismiss Sneha Rana.
Sharma and Rana added 92 runs for the 7th wicket. Deepti Sharma completed a half-century off 78 balls. The Indian women’s team ended the first day at 410 for 7 at a run rate of 4.36 runs per over. For England women, Lauren Bell took 2 wickets, Ecclestone, Charlie Dean, Kate Cross and Brunt grabbed 1 wicket each.
The Indian women’s team created a record as they became the 2nd team to score 400 plus runs in a single day of a Test match.
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