image source, YEARS
Discussions about Team India have been often heard in world cricket and now the Indian women's cricket team also seems to be moving forward on this path.
They have created such a blast in the last month of the year by defeating Australia, one of the world's leading teams, by eight wickets in the only Test, the echo of which will continue to be heard in cricket.
India has registered its first win over Australia in Test matches. Women's cricket test between India and Australia started in 1977 and India had to wait for about 46 years for its first test win.
However, only 11 Tests have been played between the two countries in these 46 years.
image source, YEARS
Second consecutive test win increased stature
If we look at the history of Indian women's cricket, its entire focus has been on ODI and T-20 cricket and it has never focused on Test cricket.
This is the reason that this was only the 40th Test of the Indian women's cricket team and till now it has been able to win seven tests and has managed to play 27 draws while losing six.
Recently, the Indian team was playing a Test against England at home after 2014.
Indian opener Smriti Mandhana had said after the victory over England, “Because we Indian cricketers were focused on shorter formats of cricket, our body was not used to playing four-day cricket, so if we want to win in Test cricket, then Attention has to be paid to physical fitness and mental fitness.”
But the way the Indian team has played in the last two Tests, it seems that if it plays like this then it can emerge as a force in Test cricket too. Anyway, the team is getting all kinds of facilities after joining BCCI.
image source, YEARS
Coach's wonder
The team has also benefited a lot from Amol Majumdar becoming the Indian coach. Even though he is not experienced in Test cricket, he has played a lot of first-class cricket. Therefore, the players got full benefit of the tips given during the test.
Harmanpreet Kaur had earlier said after the win against England, “I had zero experience of captaining a Test match. Due to this, I did not even know when to use which type of bowler to attack, but Amol Sir's tips Helped win the match.”
Most of India's bowlers had no experience of playing with the red ball, but the 15-day camp organized before the Test played an important role in winning the match.
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Efforts of Tahila and Healy were foiled
Tahila McGrath and Alyssa Healy had raised hopes of Australia's comeback in the game after falling behind in the first innings by taking the score to 205 runs for three wickets at one point on the third day.
But Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur, who bowled in this Test after a long time, put a stop to the comeback to some extent by taking the wickets of both before the end of the game.
When Australia came on the field on the last day with a lead of 46 runs, looking at the condition of the wicket it seemed that even if Australia reached 125 runs, the match could get stuck.
But the Indian spin pair Sneh Rana and Rajeshwari Gaikwad worked such magic of their spin that India could achieve the victory target of only 75 runs as the entire team was bundled out for 261 runs.
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Sneh Rana, Smriti Mandhana were the stars of Indian victory
Sneh Rana's performance cannot be praised enough. At the beginning of the fourth day's play, he decided Australia's fate to some extent by taking the wickets of Sutherland and Alan King in two consecutive balls.
Sneh Rana was continuously troubling the batsmen with her flight and turn on this spin-friendly wicket. He took seven wickets for 119 runs in this test. This performance is the best performance of any Indian spinner against Australia. He was also chosen Player of the Match for this performance.
The role of Pooja Vastrakar among Indian bowlers also needs to be appreciated. In the first innings, he defeated the Australian batsmen with his air swinging balls and played a major role in the collapse of the innings by taking four wickets for 53 runs.
As far as opener Smriti Mandhana is concerned, she is counted among the best batsmen in the world. Even though India had a target of 75 runs, the Indian batsmen were feeling the pressure due to the way the ball was rotating. The second opener Shefali Verma had returned in the beginning itself.
Richa Ghosh lost her wicket while trying to escape from the pressure created by spinner Gardner. If Smriti were out early, there could be pressure on India. But Smriti controlled her heartbeats and kept India moving towards victory by hitting fours on loose balls.
He played an important role in giving India the lead by contributing 74 runs in the first innings.
image source, YEARS
What does Deepti Sharma also have to say?
Just a few days ago, Deepti Sharma, who became the Player of the Match for her brilliant performance with bat and ball against England, has continued her brilliant performance against Australia and has shown that like in the shorter formats, she is capable of taking responsibility in Test matches too. Are capable.
Deepti Sharma played an important role in putting India in the driver's seat by scoring 78 runs in the first innings and taking the Indian innings to 406 runs.
Deepti's style of playing seemed like she was made for Test cricket only. She was seen consistently playing the spinners using her steps correctly.
From this it seems that if the Indian team is given a good experience of Test cricket, then it can be seen standing at par with great teams like Australia and England.
