IND-W vs AUS-W: Deepti Sharma and Pooja Vastrakar restore Indian women’s command against Australia
Mumbai: A sturdy unbeaten stand of 102 runs between Deepti Sharma (70) and Pooja Vastrakar (33) restored India Women’s command against Australia on the second day of the ongoing one-off Test, which stretched
Mumbai: A sturdy unbeaten stand of 102 runs between Deepti Sharma (70) and Pooja Vastrakar (33) restored India Women’s lead against Australia on the second day of the ongoing one-off Test, extending the home side’s first-innings lead to 157 here on Friday.
India reached 376/7 in reply to Australia’s 219 with their determined batting show, brightened by Smriti Mandhana’s 74, Jemimah Rodrigues’ 73 and a fine 52 from debutant Richa Ghosh.
Deepti and Vastrakar came together after India lost four quick wickets for just 14 runs to cede the advantage to Australia as their resistance flattened the visitors who used eight bowling options, with only Ashleigh Gardner (4/100) impressing.
Right-arm off-spinner Gardner, who had an eight-wicket spell in the Women’s Ashes Test, worried the Indians the most as she continued to nibble on crucial wickets while being persistent in penetrating line and lengths.
But the Indians eventually regained control, building on the beautiful partnership between Deepti and Vastrakar, who were just five runs away from taking India Women’s best-ever eighth wicket stand when stumps were drawn.
While Deepti scored nine fours to make 70 off 147 balls, it was Vastrakar whose rise as one of India’s reliable players continued. After returning figures of 4/53 on the first day, Vastrakar reached 33 not out off 115 balls with four boundaries.
The highlight of the day, however, was youngsters Ghosh (52) and Rodrigues (73) who picked apart the Australian bowlers with disdain and scored 113 runs for the side’s second-best partnership for the fourth wicket.
In her first outing with the bat in Tests, Ghosh showed both attack and resilience, cracking seven fours in her 104-ball innings while producing strokes from both ends of the field.
But Ghosh also had Ellyse Perry to thank, who spilled a sitter mid-match when the Indian batter fouled Gardner after reaching 14. However, she became the 14th Indian batswoman to score a fifty on debut, joining Rodrigues and Shubha Satheesh. done in the last ten days or so.
Rodrigues showed her control and finesse, especially with the sweep shot, collecting the majority of her runs (63 percent) on the leg side as she made a fine 73 off 121 balls with nine hits on the fence.
With a second successive fifty in as many Tests, Rodrigues also looked set for a maiden century, but she had only herself to blame after hitting one straight off Annabel Sutherland at extra cover off Gardner.
With the pitch providing variable bounce, each of the Indian batters who scored runs showed an impeccable approach in anticipating the bounce and trusting their defence, which was not the case with a few others.
Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur (0) lasted only two balls as she was slow to react to a delivery from Gardner, which stayed low and hit her pads in front of the leg stump.
India slipped further and lost the lead when Yastika Bhatia (1) appeared to have committed himself too early in the shot to miss a sweep off Gardner and was ruled leg-before.
Earlier in the day, overnight batters Mandhana and Sneh Rana (9) brought up their 50-run stand for the second wicket before Gardner cleared the latter. Smriti was also lucky when an outside edge from Garner flew past the diving Beth Mooney at first slip.
But there was heartbreak for Mandhana when she was run out, having danced around the track and hit to the back point in search of a single. Mandhana hesitated a little but seeing her partner Ghosh sprinting from the other end, she made a dash but fell short as the stumps were broken by Gardner while collecting a quick delivery from Kim Garth.
The Indian vice-captain made 74 off 106 balls with 12 fours.