Indian Women scripted history by registering their first-ever Test win over the mighty Australians. India defeated Australia by 8 wickets on Day 4 of their one-off Test match in Mumbai. Smriti Mandhana’s unbeaten 38 off 61 balls helped India reach 75/2 in 18.4 overs while chasing 75 runs. The Aussies showed a good fight too and will look to take it into the ODI series, starting December 28, Thursday at the Wankhede Stadium.
In response to India’s first innings score of 406, the visitors managed to reach 261 in their second innings. Tahlia McGrath played a brilliant knock of 73 for Australia but it was overshadowed by Sneh Rana’s 4/63. Meanwhile, India’s captain Harmanpreet Kaur and Rajeshwari Gayakwad bagged two wickets each. Rana was honored with the Player of the Match Award for her excellent bowling effort, picking up seven wickets in the match.
Bowling first, Indian Women bundled out the Australian Women for 219 on the opening day, thanks to Pooja Vastrakar’s four-wicket haul. Then, India took a 187-run lead, with a superb batting display from Shafali Verma (40) and Smriti Mandhana (74) at the top, Richa Ghosh (52) and Jemimah Rodrigues (73) in the middle order. Deepti Sharma scored a crucial 78 while Vastrakar chipped in with 47, helping India to reach a good total.
On Day 3, Australia rallied back, spearheaded by McGrath’s brilliance, hitting her second fifty of the game. Harmanpreet got several crucial wickets in the evening session and then her teammates took the final five wickets for only 28 runs in the early session on Day 4, making it easy for the batters and eventually winning the game.
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