New Delhi: The Indian women’s team, after losing the T20I series by 1-2 to the English side, made a historic comeback in the one-off test match and registered a record 300 runs victory, to win the test series by 1-0.
This was only India’s sixth win in 39 test matches, and its third against England. India also broke several records during the match.
India scored the second-highest test innings with a total of 428, which is second only to England’s 431. India also set up the highest target set by any team, i.e., 478 runs, a record previously held by Sri Lanka, when they gave the Pakistan team a huge target of 410 runs.
India’s 347-run victory is also the biggest-ever win by runs in women’s test cricket history, a record also previously held by the Sri Lankan team, which was 309 runs.
As it happened
Indian women’s team captain Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss and opted to bat first.
India stumbled early in the innings as they lost both the openers, Smriti Mandhana (17) and Shafali Verma (19), before the 50 runs mark.
However, the Indian team made a strong comeback with back-to-back excellent innings from, Shubha Satheesh (69), Jemimah Rodrigues (68), Harmanpreet Kaur (49), Yastika Bhatia (66), Deepti Sharma (67) and Sneh Rana (30), to take Indian total to 428 for 10 in the first innings.
Lauren Bell and Sophie Ecclestone were the most successful bowlers for England in the first innings, with three wickets each.
In reply, despite Nat Sciver-Brunt (59), no other batter even crossed the 20 runs mark, as they got castled on 136 runs in the first innings, giving India a huge lead of 292 runs.
The Indian team had a chance to impose follow-on, but they decided not to and came back to bat again.
Indian team in the second innings, with the help of skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (44*), and Shafali Verma (33), India declared the innings on 186 for 6, giving the English side the highest-ever test target of 478 to chase.
Chasing a record total, the England team was kept under pressure continuously by the Indian bowlers with wickets at regular intervals.
Skipper Heather Knight was the highest scorer in the second innings of England with 21 runs, as the whole English team got all-out on 131 runs, to give India a record win of 347 runs to win the match and series.
