Mumbai, Dec 24 (IANS) Sneh Rana and Rajeshwari Gayakwad claimed two wickets each as India Women bowled out Australia for 261 runs in their second innings, thus leaving themselves to score 75 runs to register a historic first win against Australia Women in Tests.
Rana claimed 2-6 in the five overs she bowled on Sunday morning while Gayakwad bagged 2 wickets for no runs as India claimed Australia’s final five wickets for just 28 runs in 15.4 overs in the one-off Test being played at the Wankhede Stadium.
India 10 Tests played between the women’s teams of the two countries, India have lost four and drawn six. Playing Australia at home after four decades, they were within sniffing distance of a memorable victory, needing only 75 runs on the fourth and final day of the match.
The Australians, who were bundled out for 219 on the first day and then conceded 406 runs to the hosts, fared a bit better in their second innings.
However, they could not control their tendency to sweep against the Indian spinners as five of their 10 batters in the second inning succumbed to this shot.
With the pitch breaking a bit more and the odd delivery shooting up from the rough patches, India got off to a good start as they bagged the sixth Australian wicket in the second over of the day when they used good use of the DRS to see the back of Ashleigh Gardner on the overnight score of 233.
Vastrakar’s fullish delivery landed on the batter’s toe and though the umpire was unmoved, the Indians reviewed the decision and got the decision as no bat was involved and the ball would have crashed into the leg stump.
Jess Jonassen survives a DRS review, as the ball hit the pad off Vastrakar as she tried to flick a delivery. Ball-tracking showed it had pitched on the leg and is signalled not out.
In the next over, Sutherlands used the DRS to get a decision overturned when she missed a drive off a delivery by Renuka Singh that pitched on the middle stump. Ball-tracking showed that it would have missed the leg stump.
The 22-year-old allrounder survived another chance when an edge off Sneh Rana fell just short of Deepti Sharma at first slip.
But the Indians could not be denied for long and they finally got Sutherland, who had slashed Sneh Rana to a glorious boundary, taking away the front foot to drive along the ground to the left of mid-on. Sneh had her revenge in her next over when she ended Sutherland’s 102-ball stay in the middle.
India’s appeal for caught behind was rejected by the umpire but they use the DRS and Ultra Edge shows the ball kissed Sutherland’s glove and popped up for a catch that Yastika Bhatia caught leg-side on the second attempt.
One got led to another as the offie had two-on-two when Alana King jabbed at a tossed-up delivery which spins onto the pad and then rolls through the gap onto the stumps.
Though Kim Garth survived the hat-trick ball, Australia were down to nine wickets when Rajeshwari Gayakwad produced a delivery too good for the tailender.
Gayakwad got her first wicket of the match with a terrific delivery. The left-arm spinner spun one across the face of the bat to hit the off-stump and send Kim Grath back for 4 (6 balls, 1 four).
They eventually ended Australia’s second innings for 261 with Gayakwad producing another brilliant delivery, spinning one through the gap between the bat and pad left by Jess Jonassen to crash into the stumps.
India claimed five wickets in 15.4 overs in 73 minutes, conceding only 28 runs, leaving the Australians a difficult task of getting the hosts out for less than 74.
Brief scores: Australia 219 & 261 all out in 105.4 overs (Tahlia McGrath 73, Ellyse Perry 45, Alyssa Healy 32, Beth Mooney 33; Sneh Rana 4-63, Harmanpreet Kaur 2-23, Rajeshwari Gayakwad 2-42) lead India 406 by 74 runs.
–IANS
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