Knowing a pink ball Test match was slated to take place against Australia in September, Smriti Mandhana had kept a Kookaburra pink ball in her kit bag while she played for Southern Brave in The Hundred in England in August.
The idea was to get a feel of the ball in the nets. That never materialized—in fact the only exposure India got to the pink ball was two days of nets in the days just preceding the ongoing Test.
But to Mandhana, that did not matter. As the 25-year-old opener swiveled to pull a Ellyse Perry ball to the boundary, in complete control of her shot, she brought up her maiden Test century. When she was finally out for 127 (216 balls), Mandhana had become the highest opposition scorer in Australia, and the first woman to hit centuries in both ODIs and Tests against Australia at home.
Riding on her innings, India ended Day 2 at 276/5 in 101.5 overs, before a hail storm hit the Carrara Oval and abruptly ended the day’s play, just like a thunderstorm had done on Day 1.
Playing on an overnight score of 80, Mandhana took just 25 more balls to get to her century, but had a reprieve off the second ball of the day. She was caught at point off a Perry full toss, but the Australian bowler had overstepped.
While talking to the media later, Mandhana joked that she was scared of hitting bad balls after that reprieve.
“The moment that ball went flying I was like ‘what did I do?’ Why did I give a catch on a full-toss?”
Mandhana then batted like a queen who owned the Oval, racing to overtake the highest score by a opposition player in Australia—England cricketer Molly Hide’s unbeaten 124 in Sydney way back in 1949.
“It feels great to have reached that feat. I had no idea about it. I have never done something like that before,” Mandhana said. “I am happier because my innings helped India make a foundation.”
Mandhana’s innings included 22 boundaries and one six. The left-hander was eventually caught by Tahlia McGrath off spinner Ashleigh Gardner at short extra-cover. Mandhana and Punam Raut had added 102-run partnership for the second wicket. Raut was batting on 36 with captain Mithali Raj at the other end, when she walked under bizarre circumstances.
Sophie Molineux had pitched the ball outside off and invited a defensive shot that appeared to just miss the edge. Wicket-keeper Alyssa Healy went up claiming a catch and Raut walked despite the on-field umpire Phillip Gillespie declaring it not out. That made it 217/3, as Australia took the new ball.
Playing in her 250th game for Australia, Perry kept bowling well and tested Raj and debutant Yastika Bhatia with her swinging deliveries. Finally, she got her first wicket of the series when the young left-hander Bhatia got a leading edge that flew out to Mooney in the gully.
With the Australians bowling well and run-rate coming down, pressure mounted on the Indian batters Raj and Deepti Sharma. Veteran Raj was run-out by a direct hit from Annabel Sutherland at midwicket. Raj, who in most likelihood is playing her last Test match, made 30 off 86 balls.
With the confident Sharma (12 no) and tentative Taniya Bhatia at the crease, the storm blew in.
Clear sky is predicted for the weekend and the fact that there will be 108 overs bowled on each day may mean that a result is still possible, though it will take plenty of action to get there.
“It’s very difficult to plan out further strategy as almost a day has been lost due to rain and just two days left in the game,” Mandhana said. “If there were two set batters then our plan would have been different. We would like to come tomorrow and stabilize initially and then maybe launch from there and make a declaration.”
Source: Hindustan Times