ENGW vs INDW Test ends in a draw: Records broken
The one-off Test match between England Women and India Women ended in a draw on Day 4 in Bristol. Hosts England had control over the match, asking India to follow-on, however, the visitors batted well in the second innings post another collapse. Shafali Verma was the star of the show, alongside Sneh Rana. Here are the records that were broken.
England rode on their top-four batters to be cruising at 230/2. However, the Indian bowlers hit back and reduced the hosts to 270/7. Sophia Dunkley (76*) and Anya Shrubsole (47) helped England post 396/9d. India were 167/0 before they collapsed to fold for 231. India were asked to follow-on and from 171/2, they were tottering at 199/7. Rana batted valiantly to help India (344/8).
England Women registered their highest total in Test cricket (396/9d) against India Women. They also posted their sixth-highest total in Tests. India Women continued their unbeaten run in Tests on English soil. They have now played nine matches, winning twice and drawing seven. Notably, India Women had lost 10 wickets in a space of 64 runs in the first innings.
Playing her eighth Test, England captain Heather Knight looked elegant in her approach, scoring 95 in the first innings. Knight slammed her third fifty in Tests. Notably, Knight marked her 100th match as England captain. She hit nine fours in a 175-ball knock. Tammy Beaumont (66) slammed her second career Test half-century. Playing her maiden Test, Dunkley smashed a half-century as well.
The likes of Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana scored 167 runs for the first wicket. They now hold the record for India's highest opening partnership in Test cricket. The previous record of 132 runs was held by Anju Jain (59) and Chanderkanta (66) against England in 1999. This has also become India's highest opening partnership against England in the Test format.
Shafali struck 96 in the first innings. She became the ninth Indian to have struck a fifty on her Test debut. Interestingly, Mandhana was the last Indian women's cricketer to do so (vs England in 2014). Shafali is also the second Indian batter after Rahul Dravid to get dismissed in the 90s on Test debut. The latter scored 95 (267) against England in 1996.
After getting 96, the Indian youngster scored 63 in the second. With her fifty in the second innings, Shafali became the fourth player and the youngest to smash consecutive half-centuries on debut against England in Test cricket. As per ESPNCricinfo, Shafali is just the fifth batter and the first Indian in women's cricket to get past 150 runs in a debut Test match.
By scoring 96, Shafali registered the highest individual score by an Indian on Test debut. She broke the long-standing record of Chanderkanta Kaul, who slammed 75 against New Zealand in 1995.
Shafali is the second Indian player across genders to score 50+ in both innings on debut and the youngest to do so. She is also the first batter aged under 18 to score 100+ runs in a women's Test match. Shafali is the third Indian women's cricketer to hit twin fifties in Test cricket after Sandhya Agarwal and Gargi Banerjee.
Notably, Shafali is just one of two players in Test history to have made two scores over 50 in the same match at the age of 17. She has equaled the record of former legend in men's cricket, Sachin Tendulkar.
Shafali is also just the fourth Indian batter across genders to accumulate 150-plus aggregate runs in a debut Test. Notably, she is also the first women's cricketer to get 50-plus scores in both innings after following on. She has also become the first women cricketer in history to hit three sixes in a Test match.
Smriti scored 78 in the first innings and registered her second fifty in Tests. Deepti Sharma, who took 3/65 in England's first innings, played a solid hand with the bat for India. In India's second innings, she scored 54. Notably, this was her debut Test. Meanwhile, Rana smashed her maiden fifty in Tests as well on debut.
India's Sneh Rana became the first Indian to claim a four-wicket haul besides making a 50-plus score on debut in a women's Test match.
