Navi Mumbai, Dec 14
Debutante Satheesh Shubha scored a run-a-ball half-century and shared an unbeaten 89-run partnership with fellow-debutante Jemimah Rodrigues (37*) as India Wmen reached 136/2 in 27 overs at lunch on the first day of the one-off four day Test against England Women at the DY Patil Stadium here on Thursday.
The 24-year-old left-hander from Karnataka batted superbly, reaching her maiden half-century off 49 balls, hitting nine boundaries, as she made the most of the opportunity.
Shubha, who struck two beautiful straight drivers and a couple of pleasing cut shots to the fence, and Jemimah came together with India down to 47/2 after losing Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma early.
At lunch, Shubha was batting on 55 with Jemimah on 37 (6x4) as India overcame the early setbacks after skipper Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss and elected to bat.
With the teams clashing in a Test match for the first time after 2021, there is a lot of interest centred on this match, which is also the first Test being hosted by India since a one-off Test against South Africa at Mysore in 2014. This is the first Test between India and England in India since 2005.
And England made a strong start in hot and humid conditions by sending back both the Indian openers with just 47 on the board.
England pacers Kate Cross, who bowled six overs in her first spell, and Lauren Bell used the conditions and the bounce offered by the pitch early in the morning to pose some interesting questions to the Indian batters.
Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma struck a few boundaries but both were still in the limited-overs mode as they tried to reach out the ball on multiple occasions.
Mandhana, who struck Bell for a four off an overpitched delivery on the first ball of the second over, got a lucky break when Tammy Boumont misjudged a top edge off a short-of-length delivery, running back from and completely lost the ball and grassed a diving effort.
Mandhana rubbed salt into the wound by driving Bell down the ground for a boundary but fell to Cross in the sixth over, as she chopped onto her stumps as the ball bounced a bit and the Indian left-hander was cramped for space as she attempted a cut. Mandhana got out for 17 off 12 balls, hitting three fours.
Shafali, who made a subdued start, opened up when she cut a widish one from Lauren Bell to the backward point fence. She struck Cross for two boundaries in the 7th over, a punch off the backfoot to the fence was the pick of the two. She followed that up with a ramp over the slips for a four. The bowler, however, had the last laugh as Bell castled her with a wobble seam delivery that pitched on the off-stump and moved just a bit to evade Verma's bat.
India were reduced to 47/2 before the 10th over, the first wicket partnership fetching 25 runs and the second, 22.
Debutant Satheesh Shubha, the 24-year-old from Karnataka 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.
They raised the half-century for the third-wicket partnership in 66 balls, with Shubha making 18 of them and Jamimah 25. They punished anything bowled fuller or short and did not take any risks. India scored 100 runs off 120 balls.
Brief scores:
India Women 136/2 in 27 overs (Satheesh Shubha batting 55, Jemimah Rodrigues batting 37; Kate Cross 1-36, Lauren Bell 1-28) against England Women.
