Medium pacer Pooja Vastrakar claims 4-53 as hosts bowl out Australia for 219; Harmanpreet Kaur & Co in strong position at 98-1 in one-off Test at Wankhede
Pooja Vastrakar is ecstatic after claiming the wicket of Australia’s Ellyse Perry at Wankhede yesterday. Pics/Getty Images
Australia captain Alyssa Healy had aimed to bat India out by batting long in the first innings if she got the opportunity to bat first. Healy called correctly at the toss and Australia did bat first.
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Rana, Deepti shine
However, they did not bat long as the Indian bowlers, led by ever-improving medium pacer Pooja Vastrakar with admirable support from the off-spin duo of Sneh Rana and Deepti Sharma, bundled out the visitors for 219 in the one-off Test at the Wankhede Stadium on Thursday.
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Smriti Mandhana (left) and Shafali Verma during their 90-run stand
India openers Shafali Verma (40, 59b, 8x4) and Smriti Mandhana (43 batting, 49b, 8x4) received umpteen loose deliveries that they promptly despatched for fours, racing to 50 in just the eighth over. India closed Day One at 98 for the loss of Verma. The openers raised 90 in just 102 deliveries.
The 24-year-old Vastrakar took her best figures in her fourth Test appearance, 4-53 in 16 overs across four spells. She picked up a wicket each in the first over of her first, second and third spells. She troubled the Aussie batters with deliveries that came in, like she did to clean bowl their famed all-rounder Elysse Perry through the gap for four. She also got the ball to move away from the left-handers, as she did to get rid of opener Beth Mooney (40) off the last ball before lunch, forcing her to edge to first slip Sneh Rana.
Lucky escapes
Australia, lucky to have three offerings dropped, all by Deepti Sharma at slips—top-scorer and vice-captain Tahlia McGrath (on 18 and 44) and No. 10 Kim Garth (on eight) being the beneficiaries, managed to take the total past 200 before being all out in the first over after drinks post tea. But that won’t be enough to keep the dominant Indians at bay.
“It was not an easy pitch like the DY Patil Stadium (against England last week, where she took 3-23 in the second innings). We needed to hit the deck and bowl wicket-to-wicket, bringing the ball inside. We understood that they had difficulty in facing the inswinging deliveries. The wobble swing was to bring the ball in and it made it difficult for the batters,” the Bilaspur-born Vastrakar said after the day’s play.
Vastrakar, who bowled first change against England in both the innings, shared the new ball with Renuka Singh against the Aussies on Thursday. “I like bowling with the new ball as well as first change, depending on the team’s requirement,” she added.
McGrath praised Vastrakar, saying, “She bowled extremely well. The ball that got Elysse Perry was an absolute peach. She got the sideways movement off the seam. The length she bowled was perfect for Test match cricket.”
The Australian top-scorer admitted that the ball kept low and it became tricky to bat when the spinners came on.
Brief scores
Australia 219 all out (T McGrath 50, B Mooney 40, A Healy 38; P Vastrakar 4-53, S Rana 3-56, D Sharma 2-45) v India 98-1 (S Mandhana 43*, S Verma 40)
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