India women score big against England on day 1 of Test
India captain Harmanpreet Kaur was unlucky again as she fell to a freak run out reminiscent of her dismissal during this year's T20 World Cup semifinal.
Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur was run out on 49 in an unfortunate manner but she would be elated with her team's performance on Thursday as India Women finished the day on a record score of 410/7 – the highest ever scored by them on Day 1 of a Test match and the second-highest overall behind England's 431/4 almost a century ago in 1935.
The innings witnessed as many as four batters recording half-centuries. Youngster Shubha Sateesh scored 69 off just 76 balls – the fastest fifty by an Indian in Tests – while fellow debutant Jemimah Rodrigues too chipped in with a 99-ball 68.
"Very happy to be here, it's an amazing feeling. Out of words, it was fantastic to contribute on debut. We (Jemimah and herself) have batted together during our Under 19 days, it was another good partnership between us. Happy with the score," Shubha said at stumps.
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Yastika was out for 66 off 88 balls but Deepti Sharma remains unbeaten on 60 with Pooja Vastrakar being the other unbeaten batter who will resume proceedings on Day 2, hoping to take India closer and hopefully, beyond the 450-run mark.
The only two players who couldn't get going were openers Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Varma, both getting out cheaply for 17 and 19 respectively.
"This is a very good score to end with 400 runs on the board. Nobody got a hundred, but we had many 100-plus partnerships, says a lot about the team effort. We would take this any day. Will try to score big the next time. The plan is to bat in the same way (tomorrow), we are batting at 4-plus runs in an over. Will try to add few more runs and the bowlers can put the pressure back on England," said Jemimah.
