Elegance rained from Smriti Mandhana’s bat even as the skies opened up to cut short the opening day’s play in India women’s one-off day-night pink-ball Test against Australia at the Metricon Stadium in Gold Coast.

The opener was batting on a career-best 80 not out and India were 132/1 when play was stopped owing to rain, which did not allow a resumption later during the day.

Mandhana authored some delightful strokes on the off-side, decorating her innings so far with 15 boundaries and a six. She also shared a 93-run opening stand with Shafali Verma (31 off 64 balls) after Australia captain Meg Lanning invited India to bat first on Thursday. Such was Mandhana’s flow on the day that young Shafali, who usually is the aggressor between the two, played second fiddle during their partnership.

Mandhana’s approach perhaps also took the Aussies by surprise. Debutant Darcie Brown was whipped for a number of boundaries on both sides of the wicket, while the experienced Ellyse Perry too took time before she could settle down.

Mandhana’s first 51 runs came off 50 balls. She slowed down a bit only after the home team’s spinners started making better use of the pink Kookaburra ball.

Punam Raut (16, batting) was giving Mandhana company at the crease when rain interrupted the proceedings.

The Indian playing XI consists of two debutants — Yastika Bhatia and Meghna Singh.