Almost is the cruellest word. It reminds all the things that could have been but weren’t, like it was almost a dream Tets debut for 17-year-old India Women opener Shafali Verma as she almost reached a hundred at Bristol, getting out on 96 trying to hit a straight good length delivery over the mid-off fielder.
Just having hit four two balls earlier, there was no need for Verma to go for that shot, but she did nonetheless and as they say you live by the sword and you die by it. But before getting out, she along with Smriti Mandhana put on the highest partnership for the opening wicket for India Women in Tests. They broke the 22-year-old record previously held by Chandrakanta Kaul and Sandhya Agarwal, who scored 132 for the opening wicket against England in 1999.
Shafali also achieved the feat of scoring most runs in debut innings for India Women in Test cricket, once again beating Kaul's 75, which she had achieved on that successful tour of England. The approach of the rest of the Indian batters post Shafali's dismissal was disappointing, to say the least. The team lost five wickets in a span of just eight overs and three balls.
While Verma’s opening partner Mandhana repeated her mistake, trying to score too many runs in too little time, Punam Raut and skipper Mithali Raj were guilty of losing their concentration at the fag end of the day. Shikha Pandey the nightwatchman wasn’t able to watch out either as she was removed by English skipper Heather Knight. Raut got out in one of the funniest and ugly manners at the same time to Knight. She chose a straighter delivery to pad to an off-spinner and then even wasted a review over it. Sophie Ecclestone managed to get Mithali to edge one to the short leg, which was initially given not out, but the review by England overruled it.
In the end, it was vice-captain Harmanpreet Kaur and all-rounder Deepti Sharma that held the fort and made sure that India didn’t lose any more wickets at the end of Day 2. With 187-5, the Indian team still requires 59 runs to avid the follow on.
Earlier, starting at their overnight score of 269-6, English Women added 127 more runs to that score, losing just three more wickets to declare at 396/6. Sopha Dunkley was the tar for the home team with her 27 balls 74. Anya Shrubsole alSO played a brilliant hand scoring 33 balls 47 to support her team. Sneh Rana plucked four wickets for India.