How Sneh, Taniya ignored sledging and saved match

Bristol, June 20

The England players resorted to “constant sledging” to disturb Sneh Rana and Taniya Bhatia but they maintained their composure to pull off a thrilling draw for India in the one-off women’s Test here.

Senior batters Mithali Raj (2, 4) and Harmanpreet Kaur (4, 8) contributed a total of 18 runs in the match, but several debutants shone for India — Shafali Verma (96 and 63), Deepti Sharma (3/65, 29* and 54), Taniya Bhatia (0 and 44*), Sneh (4/131, 2 and 80*) and Pooja Vastrakar (1/53, 12 and 12). They took the centrestage to eke out a draw after being asked to follow-on in India’s first Test in seven years.

Needing two wickets in the final session, England’s bowlers tried their best, and they and the close-in fielders constantly sledged the Indians, but Sneh and Bhatia remained unfazed.

“It was their job to disturb us, and they kept on doing so many things to achieve their goal,” Sneh, who added 104 runs with Taniya, said. “We did not pay any attention and kept on talking to each other after every ball, be it from far or getting closer. It boosted us up. We just wanted to do it for our team. That was the only conversation we had in the middle.”

“There was no nervousness. We just wanted to play our basics. There was sledging in the middle but we both decided to just focus on our batting and put in extra focus,” she added. “I didn’t want the situation to take over me, so that I could play my natural game.”

Asked about missing a century on her Test debut, Sneh said: “I didn’t think about the century. Team wanted me to stay so I was just playing ball-by-ball and contribute to the team.”

Deepti, promoted to No. 3 after her unbeaten 29 at No. 7 in the first innings, said: “I got a lot of confidence from my knock in the first innings, I just wanted to play close to my body in the second innings. I just played session-by-session.” — PTI

‘Once-in-a-generation’ talent

India women’s cricket team captain Mithali Raj described teammate Shafali Verma as a rare talent who can dominate all three formats of the game after the teenage opener’s fairytale Test debut. Seventeen-year-old Verma scored 96 and 63 on her Test debut in Bristol, winning the Player of the Match award and also becoming the first woman cricketer to hit three sixes in a Test match. “I think Verma is a player who comes across once in a generation,” Raj said. “I’m sure from here on, she’ll go from strength to strength and will be very, very important to the batting of the Indian team in all formats. She beautifully adapted to this format. She didn’t go like how she would go bonkers in the T20 format,” she added.