Smriti Mandhana was the backbone of the Indian innings on day one of the Pink Ball Test between Australia and India in Carrara on Thursday. – Getty Images
Hello and welcome to Sports Stars’ live coverage of the Pink Ball Test between Australian women and Indian women in Carrara. These are Lavanya Lakshminarayanan and Dhruva Prasad and we will walk you through the game of the day today. LIVE SCORE: IND: 100/1 (33 Overs) [MIN OVERS REMAINING: 70] WV Raman: India definitely on top. Too much has been made of the field. ————————————————– —————————————- 101/1 (33 overs): Gardner gets also a girl and with that it is time for tea / dinner. 101/1 (32 overs): Molineux continues. She manages to get two inside edges, but no damage is done. Raut likes to defend. Virgin over. Australia stays here to turn.
101/1 (31 overs): Nice race between the wickets here and Raut and Mandhana bring the 100 for India. Raut takes Gardner’s last ball to hit the mark. Two runs from this over. 99/1 (30 overs): First Maiden Overs for Gardner and Molineux Safe Overs for Australia. India is excited to see them off and targets the bowlers struggling with their lengths. Dinner time is approaching for the people of Carrara too. 99/1 (28 overs): Mandhana cuts Molineux past the point for a limit. I wonder how the Aussies are going to plan their bowling for Punam Raut. She has a solid defense and doesn’t seem in a hurry. Mandhana likes to take on scoring tasks, even if her pace has slowed down a bit. 94/1 (27 overs): Gardner now on the attack. Mandhana’s pace has dropped dramatically. She has only got 2 runs in the last 30 odd births after starting exactly the opposite (you know what I mean). Small wins for the Aussies, but all they want now is wickets. Just the one who runs from the front. Check out this termination:
Sophie Molineux there again, this time in white! Tune in live on 7Mate, Fox Cricket, Kayo and ABC Radio #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/diyQm1A7VM – Australian Women’s Cricket Team (@AusWomenCricket) September 30, 2021
93/1 (26 overs): MOLINEUX REMOVES SHAFALI VERMA. Molineux sends a flashy delivery and Verma gets a little higher than it gets to the middle. McGrath will pick it up like her life depends on it. Smile on the feed. The field team needed that. Punam Raut takes 3rd place. Well-deserved wicket girl for Molineux. WICKET: Shafali Verma c McGrath b Molineux 31 (64b 4×4 0x6) 93/0 (25 overs): And there she comes. Can Ash Gardner Deliver? She fired Smriti Mandhana four times in the one-day format. Maiden for Gardner too. 93/0 (24 overs): Only two runs from this Molineux over. What other options does Lanning have here? Maybe a little Gardner soon? 91/0 (23 overs): McGrath attacking. Mandhana looks indestructible right now. It didn’t help that the Aussies were so easily sloppy on the field. McGrath alternates between bypassing the wicket and over the wicket to Mandhana. No runs conceded. Girl. 91/0 (22 overs): It’s drizzling here. But Molineux goes about its business. Four runs come from the over. 87/0 (21 overs): ANOTHER EDGE, this time Verma. However, it falls just short of Meg Lanning – the only player in slip cordon. Healy on the mic: You have to go our way. The frustration is only beginning to show a little. 86/0 (20 overs): Maiden Over for MolineuxIND 86/0 (19 overs): McGrath goes down and it’s too far for even Healy to do anything about it. The five runs are all McGrath has to offer. How can the Aussies break this partnership? Brad Hodge talks about his experience as a color blind and talks about fighting with the pink ball. He goes into that Sutherland drop and points out how difficult it must be to get the ball against the backdrop of this see red seats. Good argument. IND 81/0 (18 overs): FALLEN. Annabel Sutherland dropped Mandhana. Oh, this is going to cost the Aussies. Molineaux must be crazy this is the second chance she created today. Just the one who runs from the front. IND 80/0 (17 overs): McGrath is back and Mandhana greets him with a border – a wonderful cover drive no less. Summit Mandhana. And that forces Lanning to bring the slip back to her. Just the line across from this one. Lanning still has no answers as Australia continues to look for a wicket.
Sophie Molineux will be there again, this time in white! Tune in live on 7Mate, Fox Cricket, Kayo and ABC Radio #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/diyQm1A7VM
IND 76/0 (16 overs): Oh Lanning misses Shafali again. Shafali touches you to slip, Lanning gets a finger on it, looks like. But the ball spins away and Lanning is too wide to use this to her advantage. Limit for the teenager. Two more runs come from this over – a total of six for Molineux’s first over of the day. Sophie Molineux comes in. She has a bandage on her lip from the injury she sustained during the third ODI. She continued playing this game with her mouth heavily taped shut and is back today. Absolute fighter. Matthew Mott: Definitely nerve about it. Time for drinks. IND 70/0 (15 overs): McGrath starts off well with some nifty angles but ends up sending one a little too crowded to Mandhana, which gives her some room to do this for four to test her third half century.
Tahlia McGrath is attacking now. Mandhana is nearing her fifty. IND 66/0 (14 overs): Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana have beaten together as opening partners in three test innings and managed more than fifty stands in two of them. Important! Campbell comes into play and admits two boundaries – Shafali Verma is the attacker this time around. Everything but Campbell’s length here. Lanning jumps over to talk to her. Thick and dark clouds are gathering over the stadium. Healy: We were advised not to look at the weather. After the World Cup semi-final against SA we were encouraged not to look too much on the radar. IND 58/0 (13 overs): Perry sends a full length ball straight onto the pads. Mandhana sends this to the border. Only the four run away. Healy: There was more nerve about the cap presentations and what to say about them than about the game. IND 54/0 (12 overs): Campbell goes down with a shorter delivery and pulls this for a limit. This creates the 50 run stand for the Indians. Smriti was approaching her own fifty. The contrast between Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma is strong to say the least. Trust on the one hand. Visible nerves on the other side. Campbell returns and has some sawdust applied to the crease. Dark clouds nearby. IND 49/0 (11 overs): Perry starts with a ball too full for Shafali. But the teen likes these supplies and is right to send them in extra coverage for four. Perry recovers and only gives up two more in this over. Six of them. IND 43/0 (10 overs): Just the one run that Campbell gave in their first international test match. Very consistent with the good length balls. Nicely done. Will help the nerves. Stella Campbell now comes into play for Brown. She makes her test debut. IND 42/0 (9 overs): Quietly by Perry, but she finds the edge of Mandhana again. But Smriti Mandhana is so lucky that she pushes the last ball to the limit for four runs! The past is slipping. 32 of Smritis 37 runs have come within their limits so far. IND 37/0 (8 overs): Mandhana starts nicely to send Brown to the point boundary. Oh, but a risky shot follows as she goes up a little. There is an outfield player, but it went through. Your heart would have skipped a beat, but instead we have a limit. She has been released more than she would like and will be relieved to survive. And how does she show relief? WITH ANOTHER BORDER. Three for Mandhana in this over. Forget that. There’s a fourth. This is a test match you say? 16 from overIND 21/0 (7 overs): Perry has now got into a decent rhythm. Just one from the front. She teases her deliveries outside, but Mandhana found the outfield players almost every time. IND 20/0 (6 overs): Just the one run for Mandhana from this brown over. Shafali is still on his feet this morning. Looks a bit insecure, especially compared to Smriti Mandhana. IND 19/0 (5 overs): Ellyse Perry is much more controlled now. She alternates between good length and fuller deliveries here, but Shafali always finds the outfield players. A girl for Perry.
IND 19/0 (4 overs): Brown returns. This time against Shafali. Nice length variations here. Only one run wins. Very talkative ducks (or seagulls?) At the Metricon Stadium in Carrara. I wonder what they think of India’s start this morning.IND 18/0 (3 overs): Shafali goes on strike and receives two slips. Pretty quiet start, but what is it! Shafali got one slipped and Meg Lanning seems to have dropped it! Perry sends a long ball and he walks to Lanning’s right, but the ball slips straight out of her hands. She won’t be satisfied with that. Shafali gets a single. Mandhana frustrates Perry a little more with a border right after the fine leg. Check out the shape it is in! Healy: The morning was pretty chaotic. We had about two minutes to get ready.
Regarding Lanning’s inability to lose a throw: Meg said Mithali changed at the last minute and said tails instead of heads. It worked for us. She said Mithali should just stick to it and she will win one. We don’t know how she (Meg) does it. IND 11/0 (2 overs): Darcie Brown is in Test Cricket for her first over and is immediately sent off for two boundaries – one to Midwicket and the other to the bottom. Smriti Mandhana is sensitive. The outfield is very fast here in Carrara. A little more expensive than Brown would have liked. India, more precisely Mandhana, starts here confidently. I can’t wait to hear Healy’s thoughts on communication.
IND 1/0 (1 above): Perry is slowly picking up speed. She has varied her lengths here in this delivery by changing the length of balls, narrow lines and inflated balls from behind. Only one overflowed.
Ellyse Perry will initiate proceedings for Australia. Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana have kept watch and how it happens – the ‘Jeetega bhai jeetega, India jeetega’ (India will win) are there as the background score for this start 9:58 AM: Reporters in Australia saw Stella Campbell as she got her test cap from Mitchell Starc. The pictures we want to see!
23 degrees in Carrara and the clouds seem to have given way to a fantastic blue sky. A cracking day of cricket (without hexing anything) awaits us. Grab your snacks and experience live action in minutes.
The emotions of Annabel Sutherland when she presented her Baggy Green by Ellyse Perry #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/QARdXYS002
Australia XI: Healy (wk), Mooney, Lanning (c), Perry, McGrath, Gardner, Sutherland, Molineux, Wareham, Brown, Campbell India XI: Mandhana, Verma, Raut, Raj (c), Y.Bhatia, Sharma, T Bhatia (wk), Vastrakar, Goswami, Singh, Gayakwad
9 : 45 clock IS: No place in the test team for Jemimah Rodrigues. You have to feel with the young dough from Mumbai. She looked fine during her stay at The Hundred. Not even Sneh Rana – the star of the Bristol Test.
Another interesting tidbit for you: Claire Polosak is in office today. She is the first Australian to officiate in all formats of the game.
9:30 AM IS: TOSS: Meg Lanning won the toss and Australia will bowl first. Mithali Raj says she did the same.
Team News: Stella Campbell, Darcie Brown, Georgia Wareham and Annabel Sutherland make their debut for Australia. For India, Yastika Bhatia and Meghna Singh will dress the whites for the first time in their careers.
9:15 AM: The last time India played a Test was in Bristol in June this year. In four days of dedicated red ball cricket, Mithali Raj’s India Heather Knights walled England in for a draw after it looked like an easy win for the hosts. Here’s a look at the stars of this game:
One-off test of India women against England women: debutantes are in charge
The Indians are in tests on an undefeated series of five games. Can Australia take revenge and ruin the party? 9:10 AM IST: Throw in 20 odd minutes. This game seems to be won and lost with the Tempo arsenal that both teams come with. Talia McGrath, Annabel Sutherland, and Stella Campbell experienced intense networking sessions this morning. The team compositions will be interesting. What do you think the Indian XI should look like?
8:40 AM: We know how well known the Pink Ball can move in these games. We saw what Meghna Singh brought out of the surface in Mackay with her impressive outswingers. Will she make it into the line-up today? Tweet us your predicted XI at @Sportstarweb. Listen to what the Indian skipper had to say before the game:
Now that the Indian women’s cricket team has gained self-confidence through a fierce performance in the one-day tournaments, it’s time for its day – Passing a trial by fire against Australia in Gold Coast on Thursday night test debut.
With the third ODI on Sunday and a rest day the following day, India only had two training sessions ahead of the groundbreaking test. The visiting team lost 2-1 in the shorter format series. The squad has very little idea of how the bright pink ball will behave during the game at Metricon Stadium. Australia, which completed its only day-night test in November 2017, is also entering the game with limited practice, but its potent tempo attack will look forward to ravaging the greenish pitch here.
India has on its first friendly in seven years, drew against England in June, but players and experts believe the slippery pink ball will be a much tougher challenge for the visiting team. India and Australia last played a Test in 2006, with only Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami appearing among the current players on both sides in that game.
Harmanpreet Kaur was dismissed despite having a hit in the nets the night before the game. Rookie batter Yastika Bhatia and pacemaker Meghna Singh, who made impressive debuts in the ODI series, received their first test caps.
Veteran Jhulan Goswami, Meghna and Pooja Vastrakar is the likely pace combination. Spinner Sneh Rana is likely to be the other all-rounder in the team next to Deepti Sharma.
It is expected that wicket keeper Taniya Bhatia, who was defeated by Richa Ghosh in ODIs, is back behind the stumps. Punam Raut, who took part in the England Test and lost her place in the ODI, is expected to play.
Pink ball in hand, baggy greens at hand Take the day-night test! #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/kVoCJFdfe2 – Australian Women’s Cricket Team (@AusWomenCricket) September 29, 2021
Pink ball in hand, baggy greens at hand Take the day-night test! #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/kVoCJFdfe2
Australia, on the other hand, suffered a blow ahead of the game when vice-captain Rachael Haynes was excluded due to a thigh injury. Skipper Meg Lanning said the team will select either a fast bowling all-rounder or a specialized batsman in their place. Annabel Sutherland, who impressed in the ODIs, is expected to make her debut.
“It will depend a little on the wicket. There’s a green cast to that, and that may bring some of our speed bowling all-rounders into the frame. We just have to decide whether we want to go with the specific batter position or with the all-rounder position so that we can make the call today after practice, ”said Lanning.
Australia will aim for a perfect game after India finished his 26-game winning streak in the third ODI.
With the pink ball, his relatively inexperienced tempo attack is more than capable of unsettling the Indian thugs.
Shantha Rangaswamy weighed the test: « Me would call it a trial by fire for the Indians. The players have hardly played with the red ball in the past three to four years. Day-night testing is a completely different ball game and a much tougher challenge. While Australia has had more testing experience than India lately, its players haven’t played much in the whites either. Some of their main players are missing and India has shown (in ODIs) that Australia is beatable. ”
THE SERIES SO FAR: Australia goes into this test with a 2-1 lead in the three ODIs played in Mackay. In the third ODI, India finished Meg Lanning’s undefeated streak in format. 26 victories in a row in this format are no joke and it took a special performance by the Indians to stop this record run. Read more here:
India beat Australia for two wickets to finish their 26-game ODI unbeaten streak
There are several injury updates prior to this test. Harmanpreet Kaur will not play this game due to a thumb injury. For Australia, Rachel Haynes will be suspending not only this test but the rest of the series due to a thigh injury sustained during the ODI leg of the series.
The Indian Premier League is underway, but India’s Premier Ladies are about to have their first Pink Ball test. So let’s get behind them. Good luck @BCCIWomen, do it well. #TeamIndia #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/YXi9Jds1a9
WEATHER FORECAST: There is a storm warning and a rain forecast for the first two days of the test. We hope that we will have a decent break in the field today and tomorrow.
Australia: Meg Lanning (c), Darcie Brown, Maitlan Brown, Stella Campbell, Nicola Carey, Hannah Darlington, Ashleigh Gardner, Alyssa Healy, Tahlia McGrath , Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Georgia Redmayne, Molly Strano, Annabel Sutherland, Tayla Vlaeminck, Georgia Wareham.
India: Mithali Raj (c), Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Punam Raut, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Yastika Bhatia, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Shikha Pandey, Jhulan Goswami, Meghna Singh, Pooja Vastrakarak Rawajesh, Poonam Yadav, Richa Ghosh, Ekta Bisht.
You can take the third ODI between India and Australia in Catch Sony Sports Network. The game will also be streamed live on the Sony Liv app.
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