More women's Test matches, please!! It was a memorable day for the Indian women's cricket team after the disappointment of the T20Is as four batters got to their half-centuries while one missed it narrowly as the home team ended the first of the four days in the one-off Test match against England at 410/7. This is the second-highest aggregate on Day 1 of a women's Test match and the Indian team would be the happier of the two teams with an opportunity to add a few more runs on Day 2 of the match at Navi Mumbai's DY Patil Stadium.
The openers for starts but both were sent back with Lauren Bell and Kate Cross taking a wicket each. Then came the 115-run partnership between the debutants Shubha Satheesh and Jemimah Rodrigues who played on the merit of the ball and since the wicket was fresh, it came on the bat nicely and both utilised it to the fullest.
Satheesh, who recently got picked by RCB at the WPL auction, scored a 49-ball half-century, the second fastest by an Indian in a women's Test while Rodrigues also got to her milestone as the partnership got better and better. Both got out in their 60s. While Sophie Ecclestone accounted for Satheesh's wicket, Lauren Bell bowled a jaffa to get rid of Jemimah to get her second wicket of the day.
Similarly, after two quick wickets, Harmanpreet and Yastika Bhatia strung a 116-run partnership as England's bowling started looking hapless after a point. Harmanpreet missed her half-century by just one run, but Bhatia who was playing her second Test got to the milestone. Yastika was the aggressive of the two as her strike rate was in the constant 75-80 range before she too fell on 66.
It was a day of nervous 60s for India with three batters getting dismissed. Sneh Rana and Deepti Sharma's 92-run stand capped off a brilliant day for India. It seemed like both will take India through to the stumps before Nat Sciver-Brunt struck dismissing Rana with an inswinger on the leg stump.
Deepti remained unbeaten on 60. India still have three wickets in hand and will hope to add a few more runs on Day 2 to add to England's misery.
