Picture Credit: BCCI Women
As Indian women's cricket team played their first Test after a long gap of 2402 days, it looked like they would face a heavy defeat at the hands of England in Bristol. Although Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma played brilliantly in the first innings, a batting collapse followed and as a result, the hosts enforced follow-on. The match was slowly getting out of India's hands as they were once reeling at 199/7. Sneh Rana and Shikha Pandey started the comeback and added 41 crucial runs before Pandey was dismissed.
Sneh Rana and Taniya Bhatia stole the show
With a lead of less than 100 runs and only 2 wickets remaining on the final day, England were cruising towards an easy victory. However, what followed next left the whole cricketing world in awe of Team India. Debutants Sneh Rana (80* off 154) and Taniya Bhatia (44* off 88) stitched a memorable 104-run partnership for the 9th wicket and snatched a historic draw from jaws of defeat.
Fans hail Mithali Raj's side for their incredible performance
Team India showed tremendous grit and determination as they battled for 121 overs in the second innings on a deteriorating pitch at Bristol Country Ground. While commentator Harsha Bhogle termed the performance as a shot in the arm for women's cricket, the fans were just delighted to see the growth of women's cricket as both sides produced an exciting game of red-ball cricket. Fans flooded Twitter with appreciation posts for the Indian Women's side for pulling off one of the greatest fightbacks in the history of the game.