It was a befitting end to India Women’s first 'home season' of Test cricket in 28 years as they recorded a historic maiden victory over Australia in the one-off Test here, at the Wankhede, on Sunday.
On the final day, India produced their best both with the ball and bat to thwart a spirited Australian resurgence, first sparking a collapse in the visitors’ ranks to claim the remaining five wickets for 28 and then knocking off a meagre target of 75 without much ado to script an eight-wicket win.
Smriti Mandhana (38 not out) and Jemimah Rodrigues (12 not out) embraced each other in a warm hug when the objective of beating a world-dominating side was accomplished.
Playing more than one Test at home for the first time since 1995, there was hardly a moment when India put a foot wrong. They stuck to the promise of playing ‘positive cricket’, weathered all storms along the way and largely dictated terms against fancied opponents in Australia and England.
While India scripted the biggest win for any team by margin of runs against England, their first-ever triumph over Australia in 11 Tests now has ensured more entries in the column of ‘matches won’ compared to ‘matches lost’.
In 40 Tests, India now have seven wins and six defeats, while 27 have been drawn.
On the fourth day morning, the Indian spinners ruled the roost as the trio of Sneh Rana (5-2-9-2), Rajeshwari Gayakwad (1.4-1-0-2) and Deepti Sharma (3-2-5-0) teamed up to break the Australian resistance.
Australia, looking to build on their slender lead of 46 runs, collapsed spectacularly to lose five wickets in the first 45 minutes of the day.
Australia were bundled out for 261 in their second innings, having scored a moderate 219 in their first essay after electing to bat.
India, who scored 406 in their first innings, lost Shafali Verma early during the chase. Richa Ghosh (13) then went on to add 51 for the second wicket with Mandhana (38 not out off 61 balls, 6x4s).
Once Richa was dismissed, Rodrigues and Mandhana completed the task.
India captain Harmanpreet Kaur said the team intended to stick to "positive cricket". " Reward for all the hard work we have done for so many years. We just wanted to play positive cricket, and that is why we wanted to put Richa Ghosh at No.3. We did not want to go back to defensive cricket and everyone knows how Richa plays. We just wanted to stick to the basics and do the right task," she said.
Asked about the team's success in taking 20 wickets to win the Test, the skipper said: "Our bowling coach tells the bowlers about taking wickets, not being defensive."
Brief scores: Australia Women 219 & 261 (Tahila McGrath 73; Sneh Rana 4/63, Rajeshwari Gayakawad 2/42). India Women 406 & 75/2 (Smriti Mandha 38 n.o.). India Women won by 8 wickets. Player of Match: Sneh Rana
With inputs from PTI
