India, Australia renew Test rivalry

Gold Coast, September 29

A fighting performance in the ODIs has given the Indian women’s cricket team the much-needed shot of confidence. Now, the team shall go through a trial by fire when they make their Day-Night Test debut against Australia in the one-off game beginning here tomorrow.

With the third ODI held on Sunday and the following day being a rest day, the Mithali Raj-led squad have had only two practice sessions in the lead-up to the landmark Test. The visitors lost 2-1 in the ODI series.

The squad has very little idea about how the shiny pink ball will behave during the course of the game at the Metricon Stadium.

Australia, who played their lone Day-Night Test in November 2017, also go into the game with limited practice but their potent pace attack will be looking forward to wreaking havoc at the greenish pitch.

India did well in their first Test outing in seven years, drawing against England in June, but the players and experts believe the pink ball will pose a tougher challenge for the visitors.

India and Australia last played a Test in 2006 with only Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami featuring in that game among the current players on both sides.

“I would call it a trial by fire for the Indians,” said former India captain and BCCI apex council member Shantha Rangaswamy. “The players have hardly played with the red ball in the last three-four years. A Day-Night Test is a completely different ball game and a much tougher challenge. Though Australia have more Test experience than India of late, their players also haven’t played a lot in the whites. Some of their key players are missing and India showed (in ODIs) that Australia are beatable,” added Rangaswamy, who led India to their maiden Test win in 1976.

No Harman, Yastika could make debut

Harmanpreet Kaur remains unavailable though she did have a hit in the nets on the eve of the game. “Harman had injured her thumb while fielding that is why she is out. It hasn’t healed properly,” Mithali said on the eve of the match.

Rookie batter Yastika Bhatia and pacer Meghna Singh, who made impressive debuts in the ODI series, could be handed their maiden Test caps. Veteran Jhulan, Meghna and Pooja Vastrakar is the likely pace combination. Spinner Sneh Rana is likely to be the other all-rounder in the side alongside Deepti Sharma.

Wicketkeeper Taniya Bhatia, who lost her place to Richa Ghosh in the ODIs, is expected to be back behind the stumps.

Australian vice-captain out

Australia, on the other hand, have been dealt a blow ahead of the game with vice-captain Rachael Haynes ruled out due to a hamstring injury. Skipper Meg Lanning said the team will either pick a fast bowling all-rounder or a specialist batter in her place.

“It will depend a little bit on the wicket. There is a green tinge there, and that potentially brings some of our pace-bowling all-rounders into the frame,” said Lanning. — PTI

‘We need red-ball cricket back on domestic circuit’

India skipper Mithali Raj today called for the return of red-ball cricket in women’s domestic circuit. Mithali, whose side got two practice sessions ahead of the Day-Night Test against Australia, wanted more preparation time but the Covid-hit scheduling did not allow that. India played their first Test in seven years in June and the Australia Test is their first with pink-ball. “Clearly, if the girls need to do well in this format they have to have some sort of match experience in the domestic circuit,” said Mithali. The two-day red ball matches in domestic cricket were discontinued after the 2018-19 season. “If this becomes a regular feature in a bilateral series, playing three formats will definitely help all the players because that’s the feedback I get that every player loves to play the longer format.” PTI

• 4 wins in 12 Tests for the Indian women’s team since 2000. They have lost just once, to Australia, while the other matches were drawn.
• 2006 India and Australia last played a Test in 2006 with only Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami featuring in that game among the current players on both sides.