If you’ve been excited about the Indian Women’s Cricket Team’s one-off Test debut against the team from England, then you’re bound to be impressed by the brilliant show the women in white put up. While England scored 396 runs for the loss of nine wickets at the end of their first innings, the Indian team was bowled out for 231 runs at the end of their first innings. The Indian women, therefore, had an uphill task at hand on the final day of the match, but were able to force England into a draw through the amazing display put on by players like Sneh Rana and Shafali Verma.
Shafali Verma scored 96 runs in the first innings and 63 in the second—which is no mean feat—but it was Sneh Rana’s brilliant all-round display that stole the show. At the end of the match, Rana became the first Indian woman all-rounder, and fourth overall player from India, to have both a 50+ score and a four-plus wicket haul in Test cricket.
During her eighth wicket partnership with pacer Shikha Pandey, Rana scored 41 runs off of 101 balls. After Pandey got out, Rana paired up with Taniya Bhatia to stitch up another 104-run partnership, with Bhatia scoring 44 runs. Despite England using all of their bowlers against her, Rana remained unbeaten at 80 runs, when players from both teams decided to call it a draw with only 12 overs left to go.
What makes the feat of players like Rana and Verma even more impressive is the fact that these young players stepped up when the most experienced members of the team—including Mithali Raj and Harmanpreet Kaur—failed to make a mark during both innings. The other players who delivered handy knocks during the second innings were Deepti Sharma (with 54 runs) and Punam Raut (with 39 runs). While this match ended in a draw, it is expected to give team India a major boost in the upcoming ODIs against England and Australia.