Mumbai, Dec 22 (PTI) India wicketkeeper batter Richa Ghosh on Friday said playing as per merit of the ball and being judicious helped the hosts gain advantage over Australia in the ongoing one-off Test here.

India lead Australia by 157 runs in the first innings after two days’ play.

India were 376 for 7 at stumps after the second day here on Friday in reply to Australia’s first-innings total of 219, with debutant Ghosh recording her maiden fifty and putting on 113 runs with Jemimah Rodrigues.

“We wanted to react as per (the merit of) the ball,” Ghosh told the media after the end of play at the Wankhede Stadium.

“If there was a delivery (in the zone) to bring out the sweep shot, we would go for it, or else we would resort to defending.

“When Jemimah came out our only target was to build partnership and how to go about it and that encouraged me,” she added. Ghosh predicted spinners to have a greater say in the remainder of the game.

“We saw some of the deliveries keeping low while some of them were bouncing off the surface. If the spinners manage to find some turn then it could be difficult for the batters. Otherwise, the pitch would get slow gradually,” she said.

Four batters — Smriti Mandhana (74), Jemimah Rodrigues (73), Ghosh (52) and Deepti Sharma (70 not out) — shone bright for India with the bat. “We discussed it when Smriti di (Smriti Mandhana) was (batting) there as to how the ball was bouncing off the pitch,” Ghosh said.

“We took our time to understand the bounce by playing one or two deliveries. All that information was shared in the dressing room as well as to the next batter,” she added.

Ghosh said she was elated to have shared her Test cap with her father, who was present near the team’s dugout during the presentation.

“Like every other parent, he wanted his daughter to get a Test cap which is a huge thing,” Ghosh said.

“It is true that he was not able to express it but despite him not saying anything, what we got to see was a big thing for me. He is there with me (for sharing this moment) and that is the most important thing for me,” she added.

Ghosh said past experience of playing against Australia came in handy to prepare for her debut Test.

“I was told by sir (Amol Muzumdar) on the night (before) that I was going to play the next match (against Australia). I was very happy since I was getting a chance,” she said.

“But I did not allow it to put any pressure on me. I approached this game with the idea that it is yet another match for me and that we have played ODIs and T20Is against Australia in the past.

“I wanted to give myself time (in the middle) since this is about Test cricket,” she added.

Australia head coach Shelley Nitschke lamented her team’s inability to to score runs on the first day, which has pegged them back.

“India showed there is plenty of runs out there if you can just be patient. We probably were not able to to build the pressure,” said Nitschke.

“When we did give them something to hit they made sure that it went to the boundary. They showed us that that they were patient and built some really good partnerships, which we did not do as we would have liked to in the first innings,” she said.

“We only had one half-century (Tahlia McGrath) and did not sort of get 100-run partnerships. I think that has been really critical for us in that innings.” Nitschke, however, praised Ashleigh Gardner for her toil on the second day, returning with figures of 41-7-100-4 across six spells.

“Ash is just a real classical off-spinner and she gets a lot of revs on the ball. In this format, it is just her consistency. She is continually able to put the ball in a good spot and ask questions,” she said.

Source: PTI News