How Indian spin trio tamed the mighty Oz
Mumbai, December 24
The Indian spinners expectedly played a key role in India’s win against Australia. India’s three frontline spinners — Sneh Rana, Rajeshwari Gayakwad and Deepti Sharma — ended up taking 11 wickets in the Test.
Rana finished with overall figures of 7/119, the best for an Indian spinner against Australia, and was named the Player of the Match. Even captain Harmanpreet Kaur picked up two crucial wickets on the third day with her off-spin. Rana, while calling Harmanpreet’s spell as the “turning point”, said that the fact that the spinners all complement each other works in their favour. “We try to talk a lot among ourselves when we are on the field,” she said.
“Each of us back our respective strengths and we discuss about what is working in terms of which kind of delivery is behaving how and what you have to bowl to a batter,” she added. “We try to keep it simple and not overcomplicate it. We have had partnerships in both batting and bowling and the result is in front of us,” she added.
Rana said that given the lack of Test assignments for the Indian team, it was imperative to keep things simple. “The preparations were simple, we had no need of experimenting a lot because red ball cricket is a long game. We kept it simple, we were calm and I have always prepared to bowl in my channels. I back my strengths and in these two matches I tried to do the same,” she said.
“It is an amazing feeling to have contributed for the team. Test cricket is the real format and everyone rates it highly; we are very fortunate to have got to play two back-to-back Tests in home conditions. I hope that we keep getting more Tests and it will be better for the future generations as well,” she added.
Rana seconded Harmanpreet in acknowledging that head coach Amol Muzumdar had a key role to play in their strong performances. “As Harmanpreet said, he had an important role in the team. He has been a very experienced player and all his inputs have been good,” Rana said.
