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Sans preparation, India women head into landmark pink ball Test in Australia
Mithali Raj's team has not trained with the pink ball until the eve of the one-off Test, which will be played at the Carrara Oval.
In the 132 days between the Indian board announcing a Test under lights against Australia and now, its women’s team has played one regular Test in England, six One-Day Internationals (ODI)and three T20 Internationals.
The number of games with a pink ball? Zero.
That is how Mithali Raj’s team will go into the Test against Australia beginning on Thursday at the Gold Coast’s Carrara Oval. So when Raj was asked about the possibility of the ball doing a lot around twilight, the India skipper said she would have to learn on the job.
“To be very honest, I don’t have the experience of playing with a pink ball. I am quite curious to see around that period (twilight) when they say that it’s going to be a little difficult. I can only say when I experience it,” said Raj at a media interaction on Wednesday.
Two days of training is all India have had to familiarise themselves with the pink ball.
“The first training session that we had with the pink ball was yesterday (Tuesday). For everybody it was a little bit of a different experience because we are not so used to seeing a pink ball around. It does move quite a bit. That’s pretty much the first impression,” said Raj.
India had a preparatory camp in Bengaluru before the tour but pink was not part of the preparation.
“We were preparing for the one-day series in the Bengaluru camp, so it was more to do with the white ball…. If we could have got a little more time between the last one-day game and the Test, it would have been quite helpful. But, again, I understand it was shortened because of Covid-19 protocols,” said Raj who has played 11 Tests.
This is only the second-ever women’s Test under lights but crucially for India, Australia was among the teams that played the first one --- against England in Sydney in 2017. Elysee Perry, Beth Mooney and Tahlia McGrath are among those in the squad who have had prior experience of an international game with the pink ball.
India and Australia last played a Test in Adelaide in 2006, the hosts winning by an innings and four runs. India’s last Test was a draw against England away this year.
The pace department is thin on experience and that means India will rely heavily on 38-year-old Jhulan Goswami for whom this will be her 12th Test. She, along with Raj, are two survivors from that 2006 Test.
Raj said the pace attack has a promising future. “It should be one the best pace attacks Indian team has had. With the experience of Jhulan, young speedster Meghna Singh her first series has been very impressive and Pooja Vastrakar, who made a comeback after two years, we are trying shape her as an all-rounder.”
That said, it is possible that Shikha Pandey, omitted from the squad for the ODI series, will find a place in the playing 11.
India will open with Shafali Verma, who scored a valiant 96 against England on her Test debut, and Smriti Mandhana who comes off a good one-day series. In absence of injured Harmanpreet Kaur, the middle-order will have Raj, Deepti Sharma and left-handed batter Yastika Bhatia who could be making her Test debut being preferred over Punam Raut. It will be interesting to see whether India stick to Richa Ghosh as wicket-keeper or play the more experienced Taniya Bhatia.
Sneh Rana, who scored 80 also on debut against England, should add depth to the batting and bolster the spin attack with Poonam Yadav and Rajeshwari Gayakwad.
The points in the multi-format series stands at 2-4 for India who ended Australia’s streak of 26 successive ODI wins. Taking confidence from that Raj said: “Playing the best side before the ODI World Cup is great preparation. I do understand the first game was a bit of flash cricket we played and I really had to have a hard talk with the team and the girls really responded very well.”
With four points available for the Test and if Australia wins, they will take an unbeatable lead ahead of the T20I series.
