Nine years without a single Test match on home soil, tells a sad story of sheer neglect. There can be no two ways about it! And when the Indian Women’s Cricket Team was presented the opportunity, the Harmanpreet Kaur-led group of determined cricketers first dismantled the visiting English team and then slayed the mighty Australians, to deliver brilliant victories in each of the two Test matches in Mumbai to bring the Year 2023 to a memorable closure with a historic statement.
This Indian women’s team has wonderful talent coming through and what they will need in regularity now, is a Test series every season. Jemimah Rodrigues, Shubha Satheesh, Richa Ghosh and Renuka Singh had the first taste of Test cricket and showed that they have the ability to help the team across various situations. And ultimately this is what becomes the crucial quality that defines a Test cricketer. One has to have a combination of brilliant skillsets and mentality to apply oneself to the varied demands of the situation.
The likes of experienced Harmanpreet Kaur and classy Smriti Mandhana, flamboyant Shafali Verma, calm Yastika Bhatia, battler Deepti Sharma, fiesty Pooja Vastrakar, hardworking Sneh Rana and Rajeshwari Gayakwad, were all brilliant and played their part very well indeed.
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Harmanpreet led the team with great confidence and her bowling changes were spot on. The performance in the field was decent too. Considering that Women’s Cricket in the Indian domestic circuit does not have the multi-days competition, it has not been an easy task for the players to ready themselves for four consecutive days on the field.
The strength of the mind, however, trumped all the challenges that the women’s team might have faced. And this strength comes from their visible joy of being together, gelling like a family and pulling in one direction. The average age of the team is under 26 years and that is an awesome feature for sure.
The Indian Women’s Cricket Teams of the past have not exactly given a feel of being on the same page, but this set of women, definitely look like a well-oiled machine with perfect balance of batters, all-rounders and bowlers. Their mentality and composure is very impressive. The fact that Indian domestic cricket legend Amol Muzumdar is the newly-appointed head coach of the Women’s Team, the instant impact is visible!
Moreover, the Mumbaikars have also made their presence felt in the galleries especially during the limited overs matches against England. And now with White-ball cricket series against the Aussies coming up on the back of the Test success for the hosts, more spectators should throng to the Wankhede and DY Patil stadiums to cheer the home team.
With the second edition of the Women’s Premier League to be held in the New Year, Indian women’s cricket circuit will be brimming with raw talents in all cricket-playing states including Goa and eventually dreaming to represent the country. It’s this frenzy that has propelled the men’s cricket to dizzier heights with sensational rags to riches stories being a routine. Can the women replicate this trend in white-ball cricket? Let’s wait and watch. In the meanwhile, the spotlight is on women’s Test cricket and the New Year holds great promise with the ‘Naya Bharat’ rising!
