"The women's team have never scored these many runs in a Test match" - Anjum Chopra on India's win vs South Africa
Anjum Chopra has lauded the Indian team for posting a record total in their win in the one-off Test against South Africa. She noted that virtually all frontline batters made substantial contributions.
India declared their first innings at 603/6 after opting to bat first in Chennai on Friday, June 28. They then bundled the Proteas women out for 266 and 373, respectively, in their two innings before registering an emphatic 10-wicket win.
Reviewing the game in a video shared on her YouTube channel, Chopra praised the Indian batters for creating a plethora of records.
"When the Indian team posted 603 runs on the board, the best thing in that was that our top order scored excellent runs, whether it was Smriti Mandhana's 149, Shafali Verma's double hundred, or fifties from Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur and Richa Ghosh's bats," she said (1:30).
"603 is a lot of runs and the women's team have never scored these many runs in a Test match. So that was one record. Apart from that, a lot of records were created including best partnership," the former India batter added.
Shafali Verma (205) and Smriti Mandhana (149) stitched together a 292-run record first-wicket partnership in women's Tests. Jemimah Rodrigues (55), Harmanpreet Kaur (69), and Richa Ghosh (86) then struck half-centuries to help India post the first 600-plus total in women's Tests.
"Only Neetu David had taken eight wickets in an innings to date" - Anjum Chopra lauds Sneh Rana's spell
![Sneh Raha registered figures of 8/77 in South Africa's first innings. [P/C: BCCI]](https://statico.sportskeeda.com/editor/2024/07/5ddd0-17199035790131-1920.jpg?w=500)
Anjum Chopra lauded Sneh Rana for emulating Neetu David's eight-wicket haul in South Africa's first innings.
"When the South African team came to bat in the first innings, they had a clear challenge in front of them. That challenge became even more difficult when Sneh Rana and Deepti Sharma took 10 wickets between them, and Sneh Rana took eight wickets. Only Neetu David had taken eight wickets in an innings to date and Sneh Rana was the second to do that," she said in the same video (2:00).
The cricketer-turned-commentator also praised the South African batters, especially Laura Wolvaardt (122) and Sune Luus (109), for putting up a brave fight in the second innings.
"When Harmanpreet Kaur enforced the follow-on, she would have thought whether South Africa would be bundled out quickly or give a strong response. They gave a strong response. The way Laura Wolvaardt batted, you cannot do anything else but applaud. Laura Wolvaardt and Sune Luus scored centuries," Chopra observed.
Chopra appreciated the Indian bowlers for putting in the hard yards and ensuring that South Africa were eventually bowled out.
"However, once again brilliant spells - Sneh Rana, Deepti Sharma, Rajeshwari Gayakwad - everyone contributed by taking wickets. Sneh Rana won another Player of the Match award. She took 10 wickets in the game. We saw Sneh Rana giving a Player of the Match performance against Australia a few months ago. So excellent numbers for consistency," she elaborated.
Rana returned figures of 2/111 in the second innings to become only the second Indian to achieve a 10-wicket match haul in women's Tests. Jhulan Goswami (10/78) previously achieved the milestone against England in Taunton in 2006.