OPINION
Follow UsIf India’s 2021 tour of Australia can be a movie script, it would be the boxing showdown between Apollo Creed and Rocky Balboa from Rocky. Two equally-gifted fighters – an overwhelming favorite and the underdog who can take hits and then gives some back. From being floored by Australia in the first ODI and coming agonizingly close in the second ODI, to clawing back with a win in third game and dictating terms in their first-ever pink-ball Test, Mithali Raj’s women have evolved through the pain and came out with flying colors. As both teams shook hands, posed for a group photo thinking about missed opportunities, we take a look things that made the four days worthwhile.
Smriti Mandhana’s class
Even when Smriti Mandhana is struggling, there is always the inevitability of a big knock. She had few struggles during the England tour and during the ODI series against Australia. At Gold Coast though, it was Mandhana at her fluent best. She broke a slew of records with her 127 in the first innings, but that’s for the history books. The century had Mandhana’s trademark cover-drives, pull shots and fearless lofts on the leg-side. Even impressive was how she used the areas straight and behind the wicket. A significant number of runs, 48 in the first innings, have come from those areas.
There were few blips, like the one when she was caught on 81 and survived thanks to Ellyse Perry’s no-ball. But when you bat for close to three grueling sessions under the lights, some good fortune is always welcome. When she came out to bat against in the second innings, she forced Australian pacers to go short, which was never her weakness. Even though Mandhana’s knock lasted for 48 balls, it was a race against time that still had all the confidence and class from the first innings.
No pink ball jitters for Indian pacers
Having played a pink-ball Test previously in the Ashes, Australian pacers struggled at home conditions throughout the match. They used two new pink balls in the first innings which were ideal for swing, but didn’t do much with it. The ease of India’s batters might’ve hinted another flat-track stalemate but India’s pace trident of Jhulan Goswami, Meghna Singh and Pooja Vastrakar offered a different take on it.
Goswami, full of confidence from the ODI series, looked lethal with the new ball as she hunted for an outside edge against Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney. After getting Mooney and Healy with two unplayable in-swingers, the veteran extracted the last ounce of movement with her final spell on day three which took the experience of Healy and Ashleigh Gardner to survive.
She, alongside, Vastrakar hit the front end of the good-length area consistently which was different to Australian pacers who bowled more fuller with middling results. Singh provided the supporting role early on the first innings, but really came into her own on day three when she got the ball to seam. After years of searching for the right players and combinations, India seemed to have found the trio who can dominate teams in their own backyard.
Perry not at her finest, but creates history again
In the three ODIs before the day-night Test, Ellyse Perry had bowled 14 overs, conceded 103 runs and claimed zero wickets. Australia head coach Matthew Mott and skipper Meg Lanning had no second thoughts about entrusting her with the new ball which didn't pay off. Australia’s talisman was unable to get the ball to swing which meant the wicket-taking initiative fell to Darcie Brown and Stella Campbell who shared the new ball.
Despite her patchy bowling performance, she put in the hard yards bowling 32 overs over four days, more than any pacer across both teams. She got two wickets and reached 300 international dismissals as she now stands as the only female player with 5000 international runs and 300 wickets. After an energy-sapping bowling effort, she also remained unbeaten on 68 in the first innings as she soaked up relentless pressure from Indian pacers for three sessions. These might not be the best of times for Perry the bowler, but she still remains Australia's most valuable batter.
The five-day question
The match could’ve turned out differently had heavy rain not washed out majority of the first two days. Throughout the match, both captains Meg Lanning and Mithali Raj tried to force a result irrespective of the position they were in. This puts the spotlight on ICC persisting with the four-day format for women’s Tests. As some of the Australian players pointed out, national Boards’ reluctance to conduct more Tests for women has a link to it. The sport’s governing body might ruminate over this issue for more years to come, but there is enough evidence to suggest that women’s Tests can be much more than exhibition specials in between limited-overs series.
