"History created" - Fans react as India Women thrash Australia Women by eight wickets in one-off Test
India Women beat Australia Women by eight wickets in a one-off Test at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday, December 24. Chasing 75, Mandhana slammed a boundary to seal the game for the hosts, who tasted their first Test win over Australia.
Batting first, India bundled out Australia for 219 in their first innings. Tahlia McGrath starred with the bat, scoring 50. Pooja Vastrakar emerged as the pick of the bowlers for India, returning with figures of 4/53, while Sneh Rana and Deepti Sharma settled for three and two wickets apiece.
In response, the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side posted 406 to gain a 187-run first innings lead. Smriti Mandhana, Richa Ghosh, Jemimah Rodrigues and Deepti Sharma chipped in with half-centuries.
Ashleigh Gardner starred with the ball for Australia, bagging four wickets, while Kim Garth and Annabel Sutherland scalped two wickets apiece.
India then bundled out the visitors for 261 in their second innings. Tahlia McGrath top scored with 73 runs off 177 deliveries. Sneh Rana bagged four wickets for India, while Rajeshwari Gayakwad and Harmanpreet Kaur scalped two wickets apiece.
Fans on X (formerly Twitter) lauded India Women for their first-ever Test win over Australia Women. One user wrote:
"History created. What a win girls!"
Here are some more reactions:
"It's a reward for all the hard work" - India Women captain Harmanpreet Kaur
India Women skipper Harmanpreet Kaur credited her team and the support staff for the clinical performance across all three departments after beating Australia in the one-off Test.
"It's a reward for all the hard work," Kaur said. "Credit goes to all our support staff, especially our bowling and batting coach. We tried to keep things simple. If we can play some positive cricket, it can really help us."
She also revealed why wicketkeeper-batter Richa Ghosh was promoted in the batting order.
"We put Richa up, we know what damage she can do," Kaur added. "We didn't want to play defensive cricket. We needed to stay in the moment. The partnership helped them to put a decent total on the board. Everyone in the team contributed."
With the win, India Women registered back-to-back victories in Tests. They recently beat England Women by 347 runs in a one-off Test at home.