India notched up their highest score in a women’s Test match played on home soil during Day 1 of the one-off Test against England at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Thursday.
In its first home Test since 2014, India chose to bat after winning the toss and amassed a massive total of 410/7, thanks to significant contributions from both the top and middle order. Shubha Satheesh (69) and Jemimah Rodrigues (68), making their debuts, each scored half-centuries as they put up a third-wicket stand of 115 runs.
Although Harmanpreet Kaur was run out for 49 – her highest Test score, Yastika Bhatia registered her first-ever Test fifty with an 88-ball 66. Spin all-rounder Deepti Sharma became the fourth half- centurion of the innings. This is Sharma’s third fifty in as many Tests and she remained not out at 60 at stumps on Day 1.
After the partnerships between Satheesh-Rodrigues, Kaur and Bhatia, Sharma and Sneh Rana also put up a fifty-plus stand for the seventh wicket to help India surpass 400 runs.
Lauren Bell claimed two wickets for England, while Sophie Ecclestone, Kate Cross, Nat Sciver-Brunt, and Charlotte Dean each picked up one wicket.
The highest Test score at home for the Indian women’s cricket team was back in 2014, where they scored 400/6d against South Africa in Mysore.
On Friday, with more left in the tank, Sharma and Pooja Vastrakar (4*) would hope to add more to the total while England would hope for more consistency with the ball.