[Watch] Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana score centuries on consecutive deliveries during IND vs SA one-off Test
India's opening batters Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma have given a brilliant start to the team against South Africa in the one-off Test that is being played at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss and opted to bat first as the openers proved her decision right by scoring a century each.
The duo of Verma and Mandhana got off to a strong start and played throughout the first session. They returned with a newfound momentum and took on the opposition bowlers to get the scorecard ticking.
Aiming to help their side get to a massive first-innings total, the opening batters found the boundaries on regular intervals and converted their 100-run partnership into a 200-run stand. Batting on 98*, Shafali Verma smashed Nonkululeko Mlaba for a boundary on the final delivery of the 39th over to get to her maiden Test century.
With a change of strike in the next over, Smriti Mandhana, batting on 99*, faced the first ball of the 40th over and ran a single to get to her second Test century. With this, the duo put India in a dominating position and continued their form in the second session as well.
Watch Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana getting their centuries, here:
Indian openers power India to a solid start
Smriti Mandhana was phenomenal in India’s recent 3-0 ODI series win against South Africa. She scored back-to-back centuries in the first two matches and followed it up with a 90 in the third game, falling just 10 runs short of a massive feat.
Shafali Verma, on the other hand, was going through a lean phase, failing to get going in the past few matches for India. She even failed to make it to the XI when India faced England last December.
Playing a game in the red-ball format after almost six months, Verma showed nerves of steel against South Africa and hit the ground running from the word go to shut off her critics in style. The duo would aim to post as many runs on the board as possible before passing the baton to the middle-order batters.
While Shafali notched up 15 fours and a couple of sixes to get to her hundred, Mandhana’s ton included 19 fours. En route to their centuries, Verma and Mandhana put up the highest first-wicket partnership in women’s Test cricket. At the time of writing, India are 271/0 in 50 overs, with Mandhana on 141*(155) and Verma on 128*(145).