Indian brilliance envelopes DY Patil Stadium as Harmanpreet & Co trounce England inside three days of four-day solitary Test by record 347 runs; Deepti shines with 9-wkt match haul and 67 in 1st innings
Indian players celebrate with the trophy after winning the one-off Test against England in Navi Mumbai on Saturday. Pic/PTI
The Harmanpreet Kaur-led Indian women’s team outclassed England in all departments to win the one-off Test by a record margin of 347 runs at the DY Patil Stadium here on Saturday.
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Though it was a four-day Test, England batted for just 63 overs across both innings, which was the main cause of their defeat. The visitors surrendered without showing any temperament.
479-run target
The hosts declared their second innings on their overnight score of 186-6, giving England a target of 479 runs and bundled them out for just 131, even before lunch on Day Three.
Also Read: Jay Shah congratulates India Women following their historic Test win against ENG
Once again, the bowling performance was led by off-spinner Deepti Sharma (8-2-32-4). She had a total of nine wickets in the game and contributed a vital 67 in the first innings. The English batters succumbed to India’s spinners in the first innings. However, though they are used to swing bowling, they failed to respond well to the Indian seamers and lost their top four batters early on Saturday morning. Madhya Pradesh pacer Pooja Vastrakar (3-23), who came into the attack as first change, was just unplayable after pacer Renuka Singh Thakur gave India their first break when she clean bowled opener Tammy Beaumont for 17.
Then, in her very first over, Vastrakar dismissed opener Sophia Dunkley (15) through substitute fielder Harleen Deol at gully. Off the very next ball, she disturbed Nat Sciver-Brunt’s furniture for a duck through an incoming delivery. In her third over, Vastrakar sent back the most experienced cricketer in both teams—England skipper Heather Knight (21)—who was playing her 12th Test, through wicketkeeper Yastika Bhatia with a beautiful away going delivery.
The remaining six wickets went to spinners as the star performer of the first innings, Deepti, and left-arm spinner Rajeshwari Gayakwad claimed four and two wickets respectively.
First home win v England
Though the Indian women’s team have defeated England twice in the longer format in England previously, Saturday’s Test triumph was India’s maiden win against them at home. And the victory margin of 347 runs is the biggest in women’s Test cricket. Harmanpreet, who led the Test team for the first time, hailed head coach Amol Muzumdar for his timely inputs. “Our coach [Muzumdar] helped us a lot. I had zero experience in leading the team in Tests. I was trusting his decisions—be it sending Shubha Satheesh one-down in the first innings or whatever ideas he provided in bowling, like the first 40 minutes were important today [Saturday], the idea was to put them in early and utilise the morning conditions. His experience really helped us and it also gave me time to decide what was best for the team.
“Credit goes to the bowlers. Whatever fields they were given, they bowled accordingly. The job becomes easier when your bowlers bowl in the right spots,” Harmanpreet said during the post-match press conference.
Taking 20 wickets is a tough task in Test cricket, but India’s bowlers did it inside three days. Harmanpreet said that the team’s bowling coach, the former Tasmania pacer Troy Cooley’s guidance played a vital role in the bowlers’ match-winning contribution.
“Whenever we get an opportunity to work with him [Cooley], he always motivates us, especially the bowlers—which areas to bowl and their lines and lengths. The bowlers also trust him and his decisions. They are able to execute the plans he makes for them. You need a person you can trust, especially a coach, and they trust his ideas and plans,” she remarked.
Brief scores
India 428 & 186-6d (H Kaur 44*, S Verma 33; C Dean 4-68, S Ecclestone 2-76) beat England 136 & 131 all out (H Knight 21; D Sharma 4-32, P Vastrakar 3-23, R Gayakwad 2-20)
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