Mandhana Becomes The First Indian Woman To Score A Test Hundred in Australia

Smriti Mandhana made her debut at the tender age of 18 against England. In a lush green top where batters like Charlotte Edwards failed to score runs, Mandhana, with a 76 under her belt in the 2nd ODI, scored 22 runs. Against the seam attack that consisted of Jenny Gunn, Kate Cross and Anya Srubshole, she faced 67 balls in the first innings.

This classy left-handed opener then struck a brilliant 51 in 132 minutes to steer the Indian chase. While her cover drives earned praise from experts, the opening partnership of 76 runs with Thirus Kamini gave a stable start which led to a historic victory against England in Wormsley.

She got out cheaply in the only home test she ever played. She had to wait another 7 years for another Test match. In the meantime, the first Indian woman to score a double century in a limited over game has established herself in white-ball cricket. With four overseas hundred, this Indian opener, with her mastery on the offside, has given Indian an opener they have looking for.

In the first innings of the Bristol Test, the one which we remember for Shafali Verma’s 96 and 63, she played her part too. A partnership of 167 runs with debutant Verma before India triggered a collapse, with Mandhana chipping in with her second half-century. A 78 that lasted almost 4 hours witnessed 14 boundaries.

It took India 15 years after their innings defeat to play any test against Australia. India, though, hasn’t won any test match against them, but at the same time, they also did not lose any game after their 2006 defeat against Australia. A streak of 5 matches.

Though Australia played a Day-Night Test in 2017 Ashes, it is India’s inaugural Day-Night Test, snd Smriti Mandhana, left-handed Indian opener, chose the occasion to project her prowess in the white clothes as well.

After playing cautiously in the first over against Perry, she started with her stroke against the debutant Darcie Brown. Brown has got a reputation for her pace and made full use of it. Mandhana loves to play on wickets that have pace and where the ball carries well. With a hint of grass and five seamers in the lineup, Mandhana’s eyes must have lit up.

The first ball of the over was short on the middle and leg. Mandhana transferred the weight back pulled that in front of the square and to the midwicket boundary. A ball later, she bisected the gully fielders for another boundary. And in the next, Perry, who was searching her rhythm in this series, was punished for throwing down the leg.

After a couple of quiet overs, where both the batters left the balls well, Brown again came under the hammer. Mandhana cut the first ball and though the stroke remained in the air for a while, the third ball went through the same region. Mandhana was gradually fining her grove.

It is a criminal if you bowl short pitch to Mandhana without the deep square leg in position. It was the ploy that was used well by South African seamer Marizanne Kapp in the 2017 World Cup. After that, though, Mandhana controlled her pull stroke well. She has fallen to that region time and again. But Lanning kept the region vacant while Mandhana kept her busy to pull the short pitch ones.

In that over, Brown conceded another two boundaries through square leg and point. Sixteen runs came from that over. Mandhana was racing towards her half-century with a strike rate of more than 100.

Another debutant, Stella Campbell, was welcomed to the arena of test cricket with a boundary while Mandhana dispatched Ellyse Perry, both sides of the wicket. She dispatched anything short and wide.

While Shafali gradually started to attack the opposition, Mandhana completed her third Test half-century with a boundary. While in the initial overs this lefty batter showed her class in pulling the ball, this time, with a cover drive, she bisected the field. It was the ball that invited her to drive and she just leaned into it and punched for another boundary. 51 from 52 balls.

Lanning would not have expected that. A lot of chatter has been there regarding the pace attack seeing the grass on the wicket. These are the same bowlers who have troubled Indian batters with the short ones in ODI’s. Brown’s opening spell ended with 4-0-28-0 while fellow debutant Stella Campbell went for 14 in her first three-over burst, where the slowness of the surface negated her attempts to bang the ball in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IJoQNi8nng

Mandhana’s innings were full of superbly timed shots off the front and the back foot, although the Australia bowlers fed her with too much width, and overall, were too short with the new ball. Unable to stop Mandhana with a short one, Lanning packed the offside field.

Darcie and Stell Campbell were removed from the attack. With six fielders on the offside, Lanning introduced her spinners, which checked the run flow. Alongside that, McGrath continued with a different strategy. She now kept the ball away from Mandhana with a short cover, silly mid-off and three on the point region. Mandhana dropped her anchor.

Mandhana is known for being unable to convert half-centuries into the big score. But it seemed like she was determined to shade that reputation of her. Even ex-Indian coach WV Raman stated on Twitter that she needed to convert her 50’s into big ones without throwing away her wicket. Mandhana too was unpleased with the way she got out in the 2nd ODI after her 86.

She dropped the anchor. She left the ball one after another against McGrath, refusing to fall in the trap while consuming dots against Molineux and Gardner.

After Shafali failed to hoick the ball, Mandhana tried to break the shackle by hitting a boundary. That came after almost 40 balls from her. Australia controlled the phase with Molineux and McGrath, and then by Gardner giving 31 runs in 18 overs till lunch.

After the lunch break, Mandhana showed no hurry to go against the bowlers and continued with her own pace. As the Australian bowlers found their rhythm after the first hour of the play, Mandhana stuck to the wicket without giving any opportunity to get herself out.

Mandhana said in the press conference that she knew about her obsession to get out after playing a reckless stroke and how her teammates helped her remain pumped up.

After the rain break halted the game for hours, Mandhana played the stroke of the day. McGrath, who was on the verge to complete an economical spell, was dispatched for a six. Mandhana took only two balls to hit that.

In that spell, it was a rare incident when T-Mac put it short. Mandhana rocked on the back foot and effortlessly pulled it over deep square leg. Mandhana ended day-one of the historic test match with her highest individual score, an unbeaten 80.

In the breaks that curtailed Day 1 of the test match, Smriti Mandhana repeatedly talked to herself. She talked about the breaks, talked about the cons of these breaks, and how not to lose focus.

Once the play was resumed on day-two, it looked like Mandhana would replicate how she started the previous day. But she played Annabel Sutherland and Ellyse Perry with utmost respite while run running between the wickets became more frequent.

Though she sliced a full toss from Perry straight to point, she was saved as Perry overstepped on that. It seems like the ghost of no-balls have hunted Australia after the second ODI. Mandhana moved to the nervous 90’s with a glorious straight drive to Sutherland.

The ball was a bit fuller and Mandhana took a stride towards the ball. Her right foot moved a bit while her bat came down swiftly. The ball raced past the bowler and the wicket and even beat an athlete like Perry towards the boundary.

Having said the previous evening that she would not change her game in sight of three figures, Mandhana was true to her word. She moved into the 90s with arguably the shot of her innings, a perfect straight drive off Annabel Sutherland, and it took her just another 11 balls to reach the century.

Perry, continuing from another end, came round the wicket to Mandhana, who was batting on 93. She pushed the first ball back to Perry in a solid manner. The next one was not that short. She stood three runs away from her maiden Test Hundred.

Perry steamed in and the ball angled into her body. Mandhana, who generally loves to pull short, smashed it with control. Though deep square leg was there, the ball won the race. Mandhana became the first Indian woman to score a Test Hundred in Australia and the first Indian woman to have a century in a day-night Test match.

Just like her maiden ODI century, her maiden Test century also came against the best in the world. A 171 balls innings witnessed 18 boundaries and a lone six.

Mandhana never played a pink ball test before, just like her teammates. However, she ordered a pink Kookaburra ball just to keep that in her room. She knew there was going to be a Test match, so she could at least look at the ball and understand.

She didn’t actually bat against it, other than the two sessions. But the pink ball was there in her kit bag for the last two-and-a-half [or] three months. Despite her intention to have a session, she really didn’t get the time to do that.

Mandhana didn’t stop there and hit three boundaries to Stella Campbell. Mandhana fell into the trap that was set for her from the first day. She chipped one straight to McGrath against Ash Gardner, who, with the economical bowling, made life harder for batters.

Her 127 is the highest individual score in a Test innings by a visitor in Australia. She broke Molly Hyde’s 124, a 72-year-old record. Besides, she now holds the record of highest individual score in all three formats of the game for India in Australia.

Mandhana played strokes all around the ground and against most of the bowlers brought into the attack. A 102 runs partnership in 259 balls for the second wicket and put India into a strong position.

If one goes through Bertolt Brecht’s play, The Life of Galileo, there is a scene, which may catch our attention. Galileo has been taken away to appear before the Inquisition and there is contradictory thinking among her daughter and pupils. His pupils are expecting that Galileo will not recant his view, while his daughter thinks of the exact opposite and will survive the wrath of the church.

While Galileo accepted the teaching of the church, one of his pupils, Andrea, said loudly, “Unhappy the land that has no heroes!” Brecht writes, to this Galileo says in response, “No. Unhappy the land that is in need of heroes.”

One might interpret the saying in different ways. But the people of the subcontinent, as Ramchandra Guha has mentioned, love to worship heroes. And it seems like Mandhana has put herself on a higher pedestal.