Sunday, December 24, 2023

India women vs Australia women: 'Christmas has come early', Hosts react to historic Test victory at Wankhede

The India women’s cricket team ended the year 2023 on a historic note by registering their first-ever Test victory over Australia in Mumbai on Sunday. The Harmanpreet Kaur-led side have now won two successive Tests against two of the oldest and most accomplished teams in women’s cricket in a space of 10 days, beating England and Australia by 347 runs and eight wickets respectively.

Spin-bowling all-rounder Deepti Sharma who starred in the victory over England with a knock of 67 and a match-haul of 9/39, with three other Indians bringing up their half-centuries and Pooja Vastrakar collecting 3/23 in the second essay.

It was a similar story against Australia over the weekend where spinner Sneh Rana played a central role with figures of 3/56 and 4/63 while the likes of Smriti Mandhana (74 and 38 not out), Jemimah Rodrigues (73) and Deepti (78) starred with the bat as India hammered the mighty Aussies by eight wickets at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium.

Reacting to her team’s exceptional performances over the past two weeks, India skipper Kaur said that the victories were the reward for their hard work over the years.

“Reward for all the hard work we have done for so many years. Credit to the team and the support staff. Reward for the hard work and patience,” Kaur said after the match.

For batter Rodrigues, Christmas had indeed come early.

“I think Test cricket is something I always wanted to play. Wearing the blue was the obvious dream, we did not play a lot of Test cricket then, but just wearing these whites was a dream. Nothing like getting two back to back fifties and getting two Test wins. Christmas has come early,” the Mumbai batter said.

For Rana, who won the Player of the Match award for her seven wickets across the two innings, the victory is an “amazing” feeling.

“Feels amazing, standing here and receiving this award. And a great Test win… Have always wanted to take wickets and stand up for my team. The captain has given me a chance and I have to do well,” Rana said in the post-match presentation.

As for Mandhana, who steered India to victory in their chase of the modest 75-run target with an unbeaten 38, the Wankhede surface wasn’t as tough as it initially appeared to be and it was about applying oneself in these conditions.

“Definitely it wasn’t that tough. We thought it was rank turner when we saw the pitch, but if you applied yourself and showed patience, think batting wasn’t that hard. Credit to all the batters. The way Deepti and Pooja got us back in the game in the first innings, that won us the game.

“I told Shafali that we should bat the way we batted in the first innings. Nothing too fancy, nothing too defensive, just react to the ball. That is when we bat the best,” the opening batter added.

As for Australia captain Alyssa Healy, who only recently succeeded the legendary Meg Lanning as the skipper, things would have been even more interesting had this been a multiple-Test series.

“What an experience to come and play Test cricket. Not easy and we found out. Two or three more Tests could have been interesting. Except for the first day, we showed a lot of fight. It’s the first time we are playing red-ball cricket here, and we are learning on our feet.

“The girls have adjusted and performed well. Full credit to the Indian team, they just put too many runs on us. If we would have batted the first full day, we could have been in the game,” Healy, a captain not very used to discussing a defeat in post-match presentations, said after the match.



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