Despite an interesting day’s play during which both the teams tried their best to force a result in the one-off day-night Test, the match between India women and their Australian counterparts at the Metricon Stadium in Gold Coast ended in a draw.

India will not be satisfied with the result since they enjoyed the upper hand over the formidable Aussies almost all through the match and perhaps could have even stunned the hosts had rain not robbed much of the play on the first two days.

The match was set up nicely on the final day after Ellyse Perry (68 not out) and Ashleigh Gardner (51) helped Australia save the follow-on, with captain Meg Lanning declaring on 241/9 and handing India a 136-run lead in the hope of forcing a result.

India openers Smriti Mandhana (31) and Shafali Verma (52) impressed again as they propelled the side to 135/3 in the second innings, setting Australia 271 to chase with 32 overs left in the match. The hosts, however, could reach only 36/2 in 15 overs before both captains shook hands for a draw.

“Without the weather we would have got a result in four days.

“We certainly came to win as did India. India played really well and put us on the back foot, we had to fight it out. They ran in hard and gave it their all,” Lanning said.

More than 80 overs were lost due to weather over the first two days, making draw the most likely outcome of the four-day match. India could have declared at tea with 242-run lead and 41 overs to bowl but they didn’t want to leave anything to chance and took the safety-first approach.

India skipper Mithali Raj was happy with her team’s performance.

“Had we got four wickets we might have kept going. But overall the team played really well. Jhulan (Goswami) has always been our best bowler for so many years and we got to see why she was the best,” said Raj.

India, who came into the game with only two practise sessions with pink-ball, outplayed the Australians in all departments. It was the first time in 15 years that two teams played a Test.

Mandhana was named player of the match for her excellent innings of 127.

The sides meet in the first of three T20 Internationals at the same venue on Thursday.