IND-W vs ENG-W Test: Did India underestimate England's spin threat?
Playing a Test match after seven years, India denied England victory in the one-off Women's Test at Bristol, salvaging pride with a hard-fought draw. Debutants Taniya Bhatia and Sneh Rana stretched the Indian second innings far enough for England to agree to a draw with 12 overs still to play.
The question needs to be asked - how did India get into a position where the only option was one of saving the Test?
Yes, a relatively new-look bowling line up was unable to put much pressure on a seasoned English batting outfit, allowing them to pile up 396/9. Still, India's openers were well poised in reply, cruising at 167 for no loss.
From that point, an inexplicable collapse followed. India ended up with 231 all out and appeared to be in serious trouble in the second innings as well until two lower-order batters showed the team how to handle the bowling.
So where did India - particularly the batting core - falter in their long-awaited opportunity to impress in whites?
The Ecclestone threat
Sophie Ecclestone is one of the best spinners for England in all formats. She is currently the top-ranked T20I bowler and in the top 15 in ODIs, and relies on a simple strategy of hitting a length consistently and getting the batters to make mistakes.
Although this was her first Test match against India, the visitors were no stranger to her skill. After all, she starred in England's ODI tour of India in 2018 with two four-fers in three games, and troubled Mithali Raj's team again the following year with an economical 2-27 from 10 overs.
Though Ecclestone was occasionally off her best in this game, with a number of full tosses and half-trackers throughout, she was able to build pressure by bowling slightly quicker through the air and producing turn away from India's right-handed batters. All four of her scalps in the first innings were exhibitions of poor defensive technique being exposed, as she found edges and trapped batters in front.
In the second innings, all her wickets involved unforced errors. Mistimed heaves by Shafali Verma and Harmanpreet Kaur, and manufactured shots by Deepti Sharma and Mithali Raj gone wrong, added to the exhibition of poor game awareness.
Throughout the Test, Verma, Rana and even Bhatia showed how Ecclestone's bowling could be dealt with. The duo exhibited more patience, better reading of length and a stronger defence when needed to shine a light on the poor preparations made against the spinner.
Curiously, India's Test squad included young Radha Yadav - ranked No. 7 in T20Is - and veteran Ekta Bisht, both left-arm orthodox spinners in the mould of Ecclestone. Not only did India miss a trick by playing neither of them to vary the spin attack, but they also failed to prepare sufficiently against the threat of Ecclestone given the presence of such quality bowlers in their camp.
The Knight surprise package
Heather Knight is barely in the top 50 in the ICC ODI rankings for bowlers and does not make it in the top 100 in T20Is. While Knight was her side's sixth bowler against India, it turned out to be the second time an English captain and part-time off-spinner would stun India in a Test this year - that too, after top-scoring for England in the first innings with 95 runs.
Bringing herself on in the 48th over of India's first innings, with the opening partnership yet unbroken, Knight nearly had a wicket off her first ball via a lazy Mandhana waft at a wide one.
India overly defensive against Knight's slow, loopy off-breaks as they scored one run off her first eight overs. They were also indecisive, as shown by Shikha Pandey's tame chip back to the bowler and Punam Raut's bizarre decision to offer her pad to a ball headed towards the stumps.
Knight ended India's first innings with stunning figures of 11-8-7-2, out-bowling all of England's pace options and being far more miserly than Ecclestone. Although India played Knight with far more intent in the second innings, hitting her out of the attack, she was immediately successful in the second spell as she beat Pooja Vastrakar's wild swing with her turn.
While India negotiated the reputed English pace attack with some ease, their poor showing against Knight and Ecclestone will ask several questions of them, particularly with a long limited-overs tour to follow against the same opposition.