ENG W vs IND W | One-off Test: Timeline of India Women’s Test cricket history

The Indian women’s cricket team will be playing their first-ever Test in seven years. In that same period, some of the men’s players must have played more than 50 games. But such is the system that even this basic need of playing Test cricket being fulfilled was touted as an achievement by the Board of Control for Cricket in India, when it's Secretary tweeted on March 8, Women’s Day, “On the occasion of #InternationalWomensDay, I’m pleased to announce that #TeamIndia @BCCIWomen will play a one-off Test match against @ECB_cricket later this year.”

It’s not that only India Women are not playing Test cricket. Barring Australia and England Women, almost no team has played a Test match in recent years. For teams like New Zealand and West Indies, the last Test match dates way back to 2004. Sri Lanka Women have not played a Test in this century. It is understandable for these countries to be not playing Test cricket as the boards don’t have as many resources as India, Australia and England. But even the richer boards not giving their women’s teams even at least 1-2 Test matches every year is alarming. 

Having said that, it is great news that after this Test against England, which begins on June 16 at Bristol, the Indian eves would have another opportunity in the longer format when they play their first-ever pink ball Test Down Under in September this year. The one-off Test on their tour to Australia will be held at the iconic WACA Ground in Perth. 

“It's very important to have that idea of what Tests mean to the players, to the team, and the importance of former cricketers who've laid the path for so many years, keeping the sport alive for the current generations and to inspire the future generations,” these were the words of Mithali Raj, the India Women’s captain after the new entrants into the Indian team were given their Test jersey. 

Test cricket and its legacy is indeed important to inspire more women to join the game. Till now, in their 45 years of Test cricket history, Indian Women have played 37 Tests, winning five, losing six and drawing 26 of them. In their last four completed matches though, spread across 15 years, the Indian team have won three and lost none. 

On that note, let’s look at the timeline of the India Women’s Test cricket history.

1976-77: The beginning of the journey

Indian Women’s team’s journey in Test cricket began with the West Indies Women tour of India in 1976-77. The tour included six Tests which to date remains the most number of Tests played in one series for both India and West Indies women. In that series, Indian Women won the fourth game by 5 wickets but lost the final Test by an innings and 24 runs.

The rest of the four matches ended in a draw. In that series, Shanta Rangaswamy was the leading run-scorer with 381 runs at an average of 42.33 and with four fifties to her kitty. Among the wicket-takers, leading the chart was India’s Shubhangi Kulkarni with 23 wickets to her name. 

In the same season, the Indian Women toured New Zealand and Australia playing one Test in each of those nations. While they drew in the Kiwi nation, Australian women were too good to be overpowered. The Indian women lost that match by 147 runs. 

1983-86: Effect of the Indian Men winning the ODI World Cup

After playing eight Tests in one season, the Indian Women’s had to wait for six years to get their next batch of Test assignments. When Indian Men’s team won the 1983 ODI World Cup, it was after that the Indian Women’s team played against Australia in 1984. The matches were spread across four cities of Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Delhi and Lucknow, but all of them resulted in a draw. 

In that series, Sandhya Agarwal was the find for India. She hit two fifties and a hundred in the first three innings that she played in her career. In the series, she averaged 96 with 288 runs in her three innings. 

After Australia, New Zealand Women toured India in 1985 and the results were similar, albeit with one game less than the previous series. All the matches ended in a draw. Sandhya was once again the highest run-getter. She also equalled the world record for two consecutive hundreds in Test cricket which stands to date. After scoring a hundred in her last game against Australia, she scored a hundred in the first match against New Zealand. 

After the New Zealand series, it was India’s turn to tour and they went on their first-ever tour of England for Test matches. Through matches in Worcester, Blackpool and Weatherby in 1986, India Women showed their strength as they saved every game and drew the three-match series. Snadhya Agarwal was once again the talk of the town with her immensely supreme batting skills. She scored 359 runs in six innings at an average of more than 71 with 190 being her best. 

1990-99: The 90s that changed perception

After the series against England in 1986, the Indian Women’s team had to once again wait for five years before they toured Australia for a three-match Test series in 1991. They lost two of the games in Melbourne and Adelaide, having drawn the first game in Sydney. It was a forgettable series of sorts as none of the Indian batter or bowlers could make a mark. 

After the rather unsuccessful series in Australia in 1991, the next time that India Women played Tests was in 1995. On their tour to New Zealand, they played and drew one game before coming back home to play an iconic three-match series against England. 

It was in that series against England that the famous two-run defeat against England was registered in the Jamshedpur Test. Winning the toss, England Women decided to bat first at the Keenan Stadium. Courtesy of some brilliant bowling by Sangita Dabir, they were bundled out for 196 in the first innings. India Women were brilliant with the bat too as they scored 263 runs, taking a lead of 67. Dabir was once again the beacon of light with her 60 runs. 

In the third innings, the England Women fought back scoring 194 runs and setting a target of 128 for India. It was in the fourth innings that the match took a 360-degree turn. While the English last wicket built a 23-run partnership, India lost their last two wickets within one run, including that of a set Dabir. Only four runs were required to win when Dabir got out. 

Dabir was the find of this series with 10 wickets and 194 runs at an average of 48. A win against England Women in Test cricket could have been achieved as early as 1995, but it took 11 years to be finally achieved. 

Post that series it took four more years before the India Women team played a Test. It was in 1999 in England. That game ended in a draw with India needing to chase 252 and ending up with 223-8. 

2002-06: When Test cricket was still trading commodity 

Gone were the times of three or more Test matches series. Now it was two matches or just one. But still, they were played once a year. In 2002, England toured India and Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami, currently, the two pillars of the Indian Women’s cricket, made their Test debuts. Only two innings were possible in that game and neither Jhulan nor Mithali had a moment to remember. While Jhulan went wicketless in her 19 overs, Mithali was bowled for a duck. 

In that very year, The India Women toured South Africa and registered their first-ever Test series win. It was in the one-off Test at Paarl. While Mithali scored a fifty in the first innings and was there to see India home in the second, Jhuland too picked up four wickets in the two innings combined. 

The year 2002 was good in the sense that India toured England in that very same year, making it three series in one year for the first time ever since 1976-77. The series was drawn as the second match was washed out after the first one ended in a draw. 

In 2003, India played only a single Test against touring New Zealand that ended in a draw. In 2005, England toured Sri Lanka and India and played a test in Delhi and that too ended in a draw. In 2006, India made two tours, one to Australia and one to England. While the Australia tour was forgettable with the team getting bundled out twice under 250, it was the tour of England that created all the buzz.

India Women registered a historic victory against the hosts, their first against England and only the third overall. Mithali’s side defeated the Charlotte Edwards led-team by five wickets in Taunton. Jhulan took two five wickets hauls in both the innings, registering her best match figures of 10-78. Mithali also scored a fifty in that game. In the second Test, India managed to draw the game with ending the fourth day’s play at 187-8 chasing 271 for victory. Thus winning their first-ever series against a high ranked team. 

From then till now: The never-ending lull

The historic win in England must have pushed Test cricket right? Well, it did exactly the opposite to that. Not only did India not play even a single game for the next eight years. But even when they did play two Tests in 2014 and won both of them, including one against England in England, the Indian Women had to wait another eight years to find their next Test assignment. 

In the 2014 series against England, eight India Women players including the likes of Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur, Punam Raut, Ekta Bisht and Shikha Pandey, who are travelling for the 2021 Test in Bristol, made their Test debuts. In fact, Shikha batted 34.3 overs alongside skipper Mithali in a 68-run partnership. The fast bowling all-rounder played 106 of the 207 balls in the partnership. 

At the end of 2014, South Africa toured India and in that game in Guwahati, three more Indian players made their debuts, two of whom, leggie Poonam Yadav and wicket-keeper batter Sushma Verma are touring with the team currently as well. India beat the Proteas Women in that game by an innings and 34 runs. Thirush Kamini and Punam Raut scored centuries in that game, Kamini missing out on a double ton by just eight runs. 

Come June 16 and India would play their 37th Test at Bristol with more new faces like Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodriguez, Shafali Verma, Indrani Roy and Pooja Vatsrakar most probably making their debuts. How would things fold out is yet to be seen. 

But you stay with OneCricket as we would bring the ball by ball update of that game to you on your cell phones, tablets and laptop screens from June 16 onwards.