3 reasons why India women deserve more Tests
India women completed a sensational double in one-off Tests at home against powerhouses England and Australia. Following a dominant 347-run victory against England at the DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai, India pulled off a hard-fought eight-wicket win against the mighty Aussie at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday, December 24.
The four-day game began with India seizing momentum and dismissing Australia for 219 in their first innings. Led by four half-centuries, Team India ascended further with a massive 406-run total in their first essay.
Despite the Aussie fightback in the third innings, India restricted the visitors to 261, leaving themselves a target of 75 to chase down. The hosts completed the formalities, losing only two wickets on the final afternoon to win their first-ever Test against Australia.
While the Indian fans rejoiced over the result, with the players acknowledging the crowd's support with a lap of honor, it was also a bittersweet moment. The reduction in the number of Test matches for Indian women has been staggering despite the team providing numerous reasons to play more red-ball cricket.
On that note, let us look at three reasons India Women deserve more Test matches.
# 1 India Women have impressed at every opportunity in the whites
It is unusual to find a team in any sport featuring less when they are a dominant force, yet that has been the case with Indian women in Tests.
The current generation of Indian women cricketers are yet to lose a Test, home or away. Their 347-run win against England was the biggest margin of victory in the history of women's Tests.
Apart from the back-to-back recent home wins against England and Australia, India also drew their one-off away Tests against the two sides in 2021.
The Asian giants have not lost a single Test since the one-off game in Australia in 2005-06. Such dominance deserves to be rewarded with more opportunities, considering several Indian players boast terrific records across formats.
Despite averaging an incredible 43.68, Mithali Raj played only 12 Tests in a 19-year international career. Considering she scored a double century at just 19, the legendary batter could have achieved a lot if given more opportunities.
For all her dominance in white-ball cricket, Smriti Mandhana also averages 48 in Tests but has played only six games in her now decade-long career.
The same story holds for Jhulan Goswami, who picked up 44 wickets at an average of under 18 but played only 12 Tests in her stellar career. With such incredible team results and individual records, it is only fair that Indian women play more red-ball cricket.
# 2 The huge disparity in Tests played between the men's and women's teams
While the excuse of Test cricket dying has often been used to justify the women's team not playing as much, the numbers in comparison with the men make for a startling reading.
Over the last two decades, the India women have played only 11 Tests, while their male counterparts have featured in 95 red-ball games. It is unfathomable for a cricket-loving nation to have a formidable women's side get their talent rarely showcased in the purest format. The recent England Test was India's first in the format at home in nine years.
With the ever-growing popularity of the women's game in India, the fans have been craving for the female stars to play more cricket. With some of the biggest stars of world cricket in the Indian side, playing more than just the odd one-off Test would set the right precedent for the future generation.
Furthermore, the women's calendar isn't as packed as the men's with bilateral series and the WPL played in a considerably shorter time and at a much lesser frequency. All this further enhances the case for the Indian women to play more Tests throughout the year.
# 3 Indian players have been vociferous for more Test cricket
Indian players have constantly voiced their wish to play more Test cricket. India women will not play any more Tests at home in the 2022-25 women's Future Tours Programme (FTP) cycle. Despite only four teams playing Test cricket during this period, India will feature the least behind England (five), Australia (four) and South Africa (three).
Recently, in an interview with Sky Sports, skipper Harmanpreet Kaur said:
"As a player, I definitely want more Tests because as a growing kid, we saw more Tests on TV than T20s. Nowadays it's a lot of fun playing T20s but Test cricket is something every cricketer wants to play. I hope those games (England and Australia home Tests) can make a huge impact on women's cricket and hopefully in the future we will keep getting more Test matches. We have to bring back Test matches in women's cricket because it's very important for women's cricket."
At 34, Kaur has played 127 ODIs and 158 T20Is but only five Tests in a 14-year career.
After the win against Australia, player of the match Sneh Rana expressed her happiness about upcoming cricketers getting inspired from their recent wins.
With such hunger from the players for more red-ball games, evidenced by their dominating showing when given an opportunity, it is only justified they are part of more Tests in the coming years.