The Indian women’s team have just played their first Test match in 7 years. It certainly has been a historic match as we got to see the Indian women make the country proud in the white jersey. Although the match is historic it certainly has not been in favour of the Indian team. They gave away 369 runs to England in the first innings, suffered a huge collapse, and stumbled to 231.

Shefali Verma has taken the cricketing world by storm by scoring 96 runs on debut. She was India’s star with the bat in their first innings, but unfortunately, the other team members could not get going. England women have enforced a follow-on in the Indian team.

Differences in the Men and Women’s Game

Women’s test cricket is certainly played differently as compared to the men’s game. They play for four days instead of five. However, the players are expected to fit more overs per hour in the women’s game than the men’s: 17 as opposed to 15, and so a full day’s play in a women’s Test match should include 100 overs, rather than 90.

The cricket field has smaller dimensions; the boundaries must be between 55 and 70 yards (50.29 and 64.01 m), in contrast to the 65 to 90 yards (59.44 to 82.30 m) required in men’s Tests.

India Women handed follow-on in Bristol

One of the things different is the follow-on rule. We were able to see that in action today as the England captain Heather Knight enforced the follow-on when their lead was only 165 runs. While the follow-on rule says that the team must have a lead in excess of 200 runs to enforce the follow-on, but this is for the men’s game.

In women’s game since the game is played for only 4 days the number of runs needed to enforce the follow-on is 150 which 50 less than what it is for the men. This is one of the notable difference in rules which we witnessed in action today.

INNINGS BREAK: #TeamIndia all-out for 231 on Day 3 of the #ENGvIND Test!

England secure a 165-run lead & enforce follow-on.

Scorecard 👉 https://t.co/Em31vo4nWB pic.twitter.com/9g3cvKVlOO

— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) June 18, 2021

Talking about the game, Shafali Verma starred again with the bat in the second innings. She played a gritty knock before rain interrupted the game. India currently is trailing and will hope that their star debutant can rescue them again.