England Women vs India Women Test | Sneh Rana and Taniya Bhatia rescue India Women Cricket Team Test Match drawn against England

Bristol: Playing his first Test, all-rounder Sneh Rana (80 not out) scored a scintillating half-century and a record 104-run partnership for the ninth wicket with Tania Bhatia (44 not out) helped India seal a lone victory over England on the fourth and final day here on Saturday. Draw a cricket test match. England declared the first innings at 396 for nine, in response to which the Indian team was reduced to 231 runs in the first innings and the hosts followed on. The top order again gave India a good start, but the middle order collapsed again. Despite this, India scored 344 for eight in the second innings, thanks to excellent performance from the lower order and drew the match.

Five players made their Test debuts

Five players made their Test debut for India with Sneh, Tania, Deepti Sharma and Shefali Verma wooing everyone with their performances. Sneh and Tania thus surpassed India’s record 90-run partnership for the ninth wicket between Shubhangi Kulkarni and Manimala Singhal against England in 1986. Sneh faced 154 balls in his innings and hit 13 fours while Tania hit six fours. England bowler Sophie Ecclestone took four wickets in both innings while Heather Knight and Nate Sciver took three wickets in both innings.

India had scored 171 runs till lunch

Playing ahead of 83 for one wicket, India were 171 for three till lunch, in which Deepti Sharma played a restrained innings of 54 runs. Deepti shared a 72-run partnership with Poonam Raut (39 off 83 balls) but was dismissed before lunch. India lost four wickets early after lunch and added only 28 runs. But debutants Sneh and Shikha Pandey (18 runs) shared a crucial 41-run partnership for the eighth wicket to keep the visiting team in a draw in the match. Both of them batted for 17 overs after which Shikha was dismissed behind the stumps by Nate Sciver in the 91st over.

Captain Mithali’s bat did not work

In the second session, England dismissed skipper Mithali Raj (04) cheaply and then Raut’s wicket took the score to 175 for five. Skipper Mithali could not read the delivery of England bowler Sophie Ecclestone (a total of eight wickets in the match) as her stumps were uprooted while Raut, who was in good form, was caught straight at square leg. Pooja Vastrakar (12) then hit three boundaries on Ecclestone in the 68th over but Heather Knight took her wicket in the 71st over.

Harmanpreet also did not last long

Vice-captain Harmanpreet Kaur, who scored just four runs in the first innings, could not stay at the crease for long and became Ecclestone’s fourth victim in an attempt to play a slog sweep shot. Shikha and Sneh put together eight fours and added some runs. Earlier in the morning, India lost the wicket of opener Shefali, who became the victim of Ecclestone in the 30th over. She could only add eight runs to her night’s score of 55 runs and the team’s score was 99 runs for two wickets. Shefali was dismissed on the last ball after Ecclestone sent the first ball of the over for a straight six, caught by Katherine Brunt at long on.

Deepti and Raut played with restraint

After this, Deepti and Raut played very restrained and both of them gave the team a six-run lead till lunch. Then India had seven wickets left. Deepti made some great shots which included a drive and sweep shot on Anya Shrubsole. Raut also took a few balls to the boundary but during this time she also survived two appeals leg before and both times she was saved by DRS. Deepti reached 50 in the 55th over with a run off Natalie Sciver. Deepti was distracted by Ecclestone’s delivery and she tried to slog the ball and hit the leg-stump. It was the last ball of the 58th over before lunch.