Mumbai: Pooja Vastrakar claimed her best Test figures in her third Test, 4/53 and Sneh Rana bagged 3-56 as India Women bundled out Australia Women for 219 and then knocked off 98 runs for the loss of one wicket to take the honours on the opening day of the only Test of the multi-format series, at the Wankhede Stadium here on Thursday.
Australia’s first innings, which lasted 77.4 overs and 305 minutes, was boosted by a superb counter-attacking half-century by Tahila McGrath (50 off 56 balls), who hammered the fastest Test half-century by an Australian woman batter off 52 deliveries. Beth Mooney contributed a patient 40 and skipper Alyssa Healy scored 38 but the rest of the batters failed to fire.
In reply, Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma batted freely, hitting some beautiful shots as India raced to 50 in 46 balls) Both capitalised on the wayward bowling by the Australians, hitting 12 boundaries in the first nine overs. They added 90 runs for the opening wicket before Shafali Verma was out for 40, trapped before the wicket as she missed a straight one. Her 40 off 59 was studded with eight boundaries.
The Indian batters, who had blasted 410/7 on the opening day of the previous Test against England, scored at a fast pace once again. Australia skipper Alyssa Healy used five bowlers but none of them could make much impression on the Indian openers.
At stumps, Smriti Mandhana was batting on 43 off 49 balls (8×4) with Sneh Rana keeping her company at four. India would now look to bat through the second day to take a big lead and put further pressure on the Australian Women, who are playing a Test in India after 40 years.
Earlier, Healy could not have imagined that they would be out cheaply when she won the toss and elected to bat in her debut Test as captain They got off to a poor start but recovered a bit before losing two wickets late in the first session as the hosts took control of the proceedings on the first day.
Australia were in trouble soon after the start as they lost Phoebe Litchfield (0) and Ellyse Perry with only seven runs on the board.
Litchfield was run out for a diamond duck on the sixth ball of the first over as she got into a huge misunderstanding with Beth Mooney and had to sacrifice her wicket for her senior partner.
Perry (4) started with a four but got out on the next ball as Pooja Vastrakar brought the ball in and it went through the gap between bat and pad to disturb the stumps.
But Mooney and Tahlia McGrath rescued Australia with an 80-run partnership for the third wicket. Tahlia played a counter-attacking half-century, cutting, slashing and driving deliveries that were bowled wide off the off-stump as she scored the fastest-ever half-century in Tests for Australia off 52 balls.
In the 4th over, McGrath struck back-to-back boundaries off Renuka Thakur — the first a drive through covers off a length ball, followed by an even better square drive through the gully.
India could have had a third wicket but Mooney survived as a DRS review by India goes in favour of the batter. The ball by Renuka Thakur jags in past the outside edge and hits the left-hander on the front pad. The ball tracker shows it was going down leg and the TV umpire rules it as an umpire’s call.
McGrath struck Renuka Thakur for two more fours — a superb punch past point in the seventh over and then another one off a wide delivery in the ninth over. She also drilled a stunning cover drive off Vastrakar in the 10th over, a copybook shot with a long stride forward and the back knee bent perfectly.
McGrath, who was dropped on 18 when the ball burst through Deepti Sharma’s hands at the second slip, rubbed salt into the wound by punching the next delivery through point for a boundary. Mooney and McGrath completed the half-century of their partnership off 67 balls.
But just when it looked like Australia had taken control of the first session, Sneh Rana struck for India, getting McGrath to play an uppish flick towards midwicket. The batter failed to time it and Gayakwad jumped high to pluck a good catch, ending McGrath’s superb innings.
Mooney, who held up one end with a patient knock, used the DRS to good effect by getting an lbw decision in her favour as she tried to build a partnership with skipper Alyssa Healy, who opened her account with a superb six off Deepti Sharma after going scoreless for 12 deliveries.
But India made another breakthrough when Harmanpreet Kaur brought back Pooja Vastrakar before lunch and the pacer struck off the final delivery before the break. Pooja pitched it short outside off and Mooney (40b, 2×4)tried to cut it but only managed to glove it to Sneh Rana at first slip.
After lunch, Alyssa Healy (38) and Annabel Sutherland added 40 runs for the fifth wicket but Pooja Sharma ended their partnership when she bowled the Australian skipper trying to sweep a delivery that stayed low. Kim Garth was the next major contributor to the Australian score as she remained unbeaten on 28, adding 30 runs for the ninth wicket with Jess Jonassen (19).
Vastrakar continued to torment Australia in the post-lunch session as she claimed two more wickets in her third spell, adding the scalps of Sutherland (16, 58b, 2×4) and Ashleigh Gardner (11, 26b, 1×4).
Landing the ball around the good length spot repeatedly, Vastrakar, who claimed her best figures of 3/23 in the second innings of the previous Test against England at the DY Patil Stadium last week, moved the ball both ways and used the early juice in the wicket to trouble the Australian batters.
Bowling in four spells, three of them from the Garware end, Vastrakar claimed one wicket from the Tata End in his first spell and then claimed the all-important wicket of Beth Mooney from the Garware end in her second spell on the stroke of lunch.
With the 24-year-old pacer from Bilaspur, Madhya Pradesh, being India’s best bowler of the day, skipper Harmanpreet Kaur used her judiciously, bringing her in to break the rhythm of the Australian batters. And Vastrakar did not disappoint her as she claimed wickets at crucial intervals.
Sneh Rana picked the key wicket of Tahlia McGrath, getting her to flick uppishly to midwicket, and added Alana King (5) and Lauren Cheatle (6) to her tally after Tea for a 3-56 haul.
Pooja Sharma, the star of India’s 347-run triumph against England with a 9/39 haul at the DY Patil Stadium last week, claimed two wickets for 45 runs, including the key wicket of Alyssa Healy.
Though the Indians bowled superbly and used the assistance in the wicket to good effect, they could have restricted Australia to fewer runs if they had not dropped four catches in the field.
Brief scores:
Australia 219 all out in 77.4 overs (Tahlia McGrath 50, Beth Mooney 40, Alyssa Healy 38, Kim Garth 28 not out; Pooja Vastrakar 4-53, Sneh Rana 3-56, Deepti Sharma 2-45) vs India Women 98/1 in 19 overs (Shafali Verma 40, Smriti Mandhana batting 43; Jess Jonassen 1-4).
–IANS
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