India’s Harmanpreet and Co. thrashed Australia by 8 wickets to record their 1st-ever Test win over the Baggy Greens in women’s Tests. India Women scored an eight-wicket win against Australia Women on Day 4 of their one-off Test match, in Mumbai on December 24. Chasing 75 runs, India reached 75/2 in 18.4 overs which was a courtesy of an unbeaten knock of 38 off 61 balls by Smriti Mandhana. The visitors commenced the second innings with a total of 261, in response to India’s first innings score of 406. Tahlia McGrath (73) scored a half-century for Australia in the second innings but it didn’t really prove impactful due to Sneh Rana’s 4/63.
Meanwhile, Harmanpreet Kaur and Rajeshwari Gayakwad managed two dismissals each for India. Speaking post hitting the match-winning four, Mandhana said, “It wasn’t that tough. We thought it was going to be a rank turner on day three and four. But if you show patience, it wasn’t that hard. I advised Shafali to bat as we batted in the first innings. Just reacting to the ball was the only message we had. She was unfortunate. However, she started off beautifully with that cover drive.”
After winning the toss, India gave a target of 2019 to the Aussies for the opening day. Then, India took a 187-run lead, with a beautiful partnership from Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana at the top, Richa Ghosh and Jemimah Rodrigues in the middle order, followed by Deepti Sharma and Pooja Vastrakar.
Australia, by McGrath’s brilliance, fought back on Day 3 as she bagged her second fifty of the match. Harmanpreet managed to take some key wickets in the final session of the Day 3, and then her teammates wrapped up the last five wickets for just 28 runs in the morning session of Day 4. Chasing 75, it was a smooth sail for India as Mandhana remained unbeaten and hit the match-winning runs.
Sneh, who was the Player of the Match, said, “It feels amazing, standing here receiving this award, fantastic win by our team. It was my first time batting with Smriti and we enjoyed each other’s company. Catch drops are part of the match. Everyone wants to contribute. I can drop catches, so I don’t feel bad. I try to come back harder. The team environment in the last 15 days and the support that we have been receiving, it’s really amazing. Two home Tests and we have won both. I think it will attract a lot of youngsters.”
