(Cricket news) On Friday, December 22, at the Wankhede Stadium, during the second day of the one-off Test match against Australia, India displayed a classic Test match batting effort to seize total control. At Stumps, they reached 376/6, leading by 157 runs, with to half-centuries from four batsmen and two century stands either side of a second-session hiccup. India had no idea that, after losing the toss against the top side in the league, they would go on to have an even better day of Test cricket than they did yesterday when play got underway on Thursday.
They had taken 98 runs off Australia’s total, but they needed to win today’s opening session in order to continue their progress. In this sense, they relished the 55-minute “perfect hour,” during which Smriti Mandhana calmly reached her third Test half-century. A breakthrough proved elusive despite the fact that Australia’s best by far, Ashleigh Gardner, regularly plagued both Mandhana and Sneh Rana.
Tahlia McGrath’s two misfields off consecutive deliveries both went for boundaries, but India also found the visitors at their most generous, allowing the hosts to cut a large portion of the gap. It was only fitting that Gardner delivered the opening blow for Australia, as she rattled her stumps by forcing Rana to play inside the line to a delivery. Due to a misunderstanding between Richa Ghosh and Mandhana, India then provided Australia with a way to respond, which led to the run-out for 74.
After playing up the order in her first game, Ghosh teamed up with Jemimah Rodrigues to rebuild India’s innings. India reached lunch without suffering any more losses, having closed the gap on their opponents’ first-inning total of 219 runs by just 57 runs. After lunch, the partnership took off, with the two’s clever running between the wickets and choice to sweep the spinners off the stumps standing out as particular highlights. When Australia displayed their renowned ability to recover from a setback, India had already taken a commanding lead after both batsmen reached their half-centuries.
Kim Garth broke the 113-run stand when her short-ball trick worked and caused Ghosh to mishit a draw. A Gardner grubber trapped captain Harmanpreet Kaur leg before wicket three balls later. Yastika Bhatia was also leg before wicket by the offspinner, who also got well-set Rodrigues to fall for 73 as he sent a floating delivery to the hands of cover. India led by just over 50 runs but lost 4 for 14 in nine overs.
If Australian hope that India could be bowled over for a lead under 100 and then put pressure on in the fourth innings stemmed from that period after the drinks interval and before Tea, Deepti Sharma and Pooja Vastrakar fairly spectacularly shattered that belief. During the initial half of the last session, the two batted cautiously, but as the bowlers wore down and the ball softened, the strokes started to come easily.
Vastrakar was resolute in defence and ensured that the hosts finished the last session without picking up a wicket, while Deepti, who has scored fifty runs in each of her previous three Test matches, made it four from four and reached seventy. With two days to go on a surface that was predicted to go worse, the duo amassed 102 runs before Stumps and left Australia buried beneath a pile of runs.
Also read: The ‘robotic’ length of Vastrakar is ideal for Test cricket, according to McGrath
