It did not take more than 28 overs for Team India to register an emphatic victory in the longest format of the game after a gap of nine years, as they beat mediocre England by 347 runs in the only Test at Navi Mumbai, on Saturday. After declaring the innings at the overnight score of 186/6, the Indian bowlers were on top of their game once again, as they bundled out hapless visitors for a paltry 131 runs.
Just like the first innings, the second innings saw Deepti Sharma wreaking havoc on English batters. She picked up four wickets, to derail the improbable chase. Then pacer Pooja Vastrakar also got three. She got rid of skipper Heather Knight (21) and Nat Sciver-Brunt (0) in successive deliveries to choke the opposition. As far as the English batting is concerned, the script went as expected for them, as none of them could battle the demons of the third-day wicket. As many as four batters were dismissed in single-digit scores.
Indian Women Dominate Proceedings for Day 1 & 2
Right from the start of the match, it was Harmanpreet Kaur & Co. who dominated the match in every department. Playing a Test after almost two years, the team did not look rusty at all and put on a good batting display in the first innings. After Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma got out cheaply, Shubha Satheesh (69) and Jemimah Rodrigues (68), put up 115 runs together. All the batters to follow — Harmanpreet Singh (49), Yastika Bhatia (66), and Deepti Sharma (67), took the score to 428.
Then, India managed to restrict England to 136 on the second day, guided by Deepti’s 5/7. This after, England were 108/3 at one stage. Sciver was the only batter who could resist the Indian bowling attack and went on to score 59 for the team.
Not enforcing the follow-on, India started their second innings with a bang, with Shafali & Smriti adding 61 in 13 overs. Harmanpreet remained unbeaten at 44. The only silver lining for England was, off-spinner Charlotte Dean picking up four wickets.
