by The Indian women’s cricket team defeated the South African women’s team by 10 wickets in the only Test match played at the M Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. In this match, India’s right-arm off-spinner Sneh Rana bowled brilliantly and took 10 wickets. Sneh Rana won the player of the match award. In this match under the leadership of Harmanpreet Kaur, the Indian team declared the first innings by making 603 runs for 6 wickets. Meanwhile, opener Shefali Verma played a record innings of 205 runs. Right-handed attacking batsman Shefali played this innings in just 197 balls. India’s other veteran opener Smriti Mandhana also scored 149 off 161 balls during this period.
South Africa were bowled out for just 266 runs in response to India’s huge score. India’s Sneh Rana bowled brilliantly on the Chennai pitch and took 8 wickets for 77 runs. After this, the Indian team forced South Africa to follow on by all out for 373 runs. Captain Laura Walward played an innings of 122 runs from South Africa. Apart from that, Sune Lus also scored 109 runs.
India found some resistance on the last day of the match from Nadine de Klerk, who played an innings of 61 off 185 balls. However, South Africa’s lower order could not do much. India’s Sneh Rana dismissed two South African batsmen in this innings as well and took a total of 10 wickets in the match. After South Africa’s innings was out, India had a target of only 37 runs to win. Indian team achieved this target without any loss and won the match. This is the third Test win in a row for the Indian women’s team.
Harmanpreet Kaur created history
India has won these three matches under the captaincy of Harmanpreet Kaur. She is the first woman captain to do so. Harmanpreet has now equaled Mithali Raj as India’s most successful Test captain. Mithali Raj also won three Tests as captain.
The Indian team had earlier defeated England and Australia in December 2023. Apart from India, only the Australian team has made a record of scoring a hat-trick of consecutive Test wins in women’s cricket. With this, Indian women have become joint first with Australia in terms of winning the most consecutive matches in Tests.
At the same time, South Africa Women became the first team to lose in both innings of a Test despite scoring more than 250 runs. In this match, South Africa scored a total of 639 runs in both innings and this is their second defeat despite scoring the highest number of runs in women’s Tests. Earlier, England scored 641 runs against Australia in 2023, but still lost the match.
These big records were made in the match
Sneh Rana took 8 wickets for 77 runs in South Africa’s first innings. Rana became the third bowler to take eight wickets in a women’s Test innings. Neetu David took 8 for 53 in England’s second innings at Jamshedpur in 1995, while Ashley Gardner took 8 for 66 in the fourth innings of the Ashes Test last year. Rana is the second Indian woman to take ten wickets in Tests. He took two wickets in the second innings. In this Test, Rana scored 188 runs and took a total of 10 wickets. Jhulan Goswami took 10 wickets for 78 against England in the 2006 Taunton Test.
Sneh Rana took a total of 10 wickets in the match (Photo: PTI)
Shefali Verma’s 229 against South Africa in Chennai is the highest by an Indian in a women’s Test, surpassing Sandhya Agarwal’s 217 against Australia at Wankhede in 1984. After Kiran Baloch’s 264 against the West Indies in 2004 and Tammy Beaumont’s 230 against Australia in 2023, Shefali’s 229 is the third highest by a woman in a Test match.
Laura Volward scored a century in this match and she now joins the list of women who have scored centuries in all three formats of international cricket. Laura Volward was preceded by Heather Knight and Tammy Beaumont. Volward’s 122 in the second innings is the second-highest score for South Africa in a women’s Test in 2022, behind Maryzanne Kapp’s 150 against England.
Sune Luse scored more than 50 runs in both innings of the match. He scored 65 runs in the first innings and 109 runs in the second innings. She became the first South African player to score more than 50 runs in both innings of a Test.
South Africa’s second innings saw a 190-run partnership between Walward and Luce for the second wicket. This is the highest partnership for South Africa in women’s Tests, surpassing the 138-run partnership between Johmarie Logtenberg and Charlize van der Westhuizen for the fifth wicket against England in 2003.
The 1279 runs scored by India and South Africa in Chennai is the second highest score in a women’s Test after the 1371 runs scored by England and Australia in the Ashes Test in Nottingham last year. India scored 640 runs in the match, the fourth highest team score in women’s Tests, while South Africa’s 639 runs was the fifth highest score.
