India Women lost two wickets in the post-lunch session but recovered thanks to a superb partnership between skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and Yastika Bhatia as the hosts reached 261/4 in 56 overs at Tea on the opening day of the one-off Test against England Women at the DY Patil Stadium here on Thursday.
Harmanpreet Kaur and Yastika Bhatia shared a 71-run partnership for the fifth wicket, helping the hosts get into a good position going into the final session on the first day of the first Test played in India since 2014.
At Tea, India were 261/4 with Harmanpreet batting on 34 (63 balls, 4×4) and Yastika keeping her company with 43 (60 balls, 0x4).
Starting from 136/2 in 27 overs at lunch, India lost both debutantes Shubha Satheesh and Jemimah Rodrigues for 69 and 68 respectively, their half-centuries rescuing the hosts from a precarious 47/2 in the 10th over with Smriti Mandhana (17) and Shafali Verma (19) out early.
Shubha, who completed a run-a-ball half-century in the first session, got out for 69, hitting 13 boundaries. The 24-year-old left-hander from Karnataka struck two beautiful straight drives and a couple of pleasing cut shots to the fence.
Shubha impressed with her temperament as she scored her first runs with a superb cover drive off Bell as she and Jemimah Rodrigues took India past fifty and on their way to 100 as they built up a handy partnership.
The third wicket partnership was worth 115 and came off 146 balls with Shubha contributing 59 runs and Jemimah adding 49 runs, with seven extras.
Shubha got out just when she was looking good to go all the way to the three-figure mark, as a wide one from Sphoie Ecclestone moved in a bit and hit high on the bat and Nat Sciver-Brunt caught a good diving catch. It was a good one as England dropped a few catches on the day.
Jemimah, who had been more sedate, completed her half-century off 82 balls and struck a flurry of shots, some of them not as assured as the majority of 10 boundaries she had struck on the day. However, she too got out at the most inappropriate moment for India, after adding 28 runs for the fourth wicket with Harmanpreet. Jemimah was bowled by pacer Lauren Bell when a delivery wide of off-stump angled in through the gap between the bat and pad and crashed into the stumps. Her 68 came off came off 99 balls and was studded with 11 boundaries.
At 190/4, it looked like England would gain the upper hand but Harmanpreet and Yastika claimed the session for India with a fine partnership.
England skipper Heather Knight used six bowlers with pacer Lauren Bell claiming 2/44 off 8. Though her spinners extracted bounce from the wicket, they could not trouble the Indian batters a lot.
Brief scores:
At Tea: India Women 261/4 in 56 overs (Shubha Satheesh 69, Jemimah Rodrigues 68, Yastika Bhatia 43 not out, Harmanpreet Kaur 34 not out; Lauren Bell 2-44) against England Women.
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