A hapless response to spin saw England batting for a total of just three hours and 30 minutes, eventually bowled out for 136 on day two of the one-off Test against India at the D.Y. Patil Stadium here on Friday.
Resuming from 410/7, India managed to add just 18 runs with Sophie Ecclestone and Lauren Bell cleaning up the tail.
India spared England the nerves of a follow-on, presumably to get some time with the bat ahead of the lone Test against Australia in a few days time, and finished the day on 186/6, adding to its existing lead of 292 to finish 478 runs ahead with two days to go in the Test.
A web of woes
Sophia Dunkley, backed despite poor form, and Tammy Beaumont looked all sorts of uncomfortable when facing a pace-spin opening salvo from the host.
If you’ve watched the FOX/Netflix drama ‘Lucifer’, you will be familiar with the concept of the Devil’s hell loop where you’re stuck reliving your worst moment over and over again. Dunkley might just liken her experiences with the bat in this series to this very hell loop, with Renuka Singh Thakur playing the devil of her nightmares.
READ | IND vs ENG, Women’s Test: Batters dominate day 1, put India in command at 410/7
Renuka has had the allrounder’s number in all fixtures on this tour. Barring the one dismissal that involved a catch by Shreyanka Patil, Renuka has rocked the all-rounder’s stumps, beating her as she struggles for room to find the right angle to middle the ball. Her dismissal on day two involved a similar misjudgment of line which saw the ball go straight between bat and pad to hit the middle stump.
India’s Renuka Singh Thakur celebrates after dismissing England’s Sophia Dunkley on second day. | Photo Credit: EMMANUAL YOGINI/THE HINDU
India went with a tight field, cramming the batters for room. Simple stump-to-stump bowling meant England had to rely on its ability to defend, rather than free its arms and keep runs coming.
Harmanpreet waited for the ball to lose shine before handing Pooja Vastrakar her first over, alternating Renuka with Sneh Rana and Rajeshwari Gayakwad instead. Once on, Pooja struck immediately, getting Knight plumb leg before wicket. Beaumont struggled and even survived an early leg before call but a hasty run on Nat Sciver-Brunt’s asking saw her fall short of the crease with Pooja’s direct hit doing the job.
Milestone for Deepti
Deepti Sharma was the last Indian bowling change and she struck in her very first over, drawing an inside edge from Danni Wyatt’s bat which was taken by Jemimah Rodrigues at short leg. Amy Jones smashed Deepti to the leg side with the ball ricocheting off Smriti Mandhana’s helmet to Shafali Verma at leg slip.
Ecclestone, who had long batting drills in the run-up to this Test, lasted just two balls, with Deepti turning the ball into the off stump. Sciver-Brunt’s resistance finally ended after a fighting 70-ball 59 with Sneh getting vicious turn to beat the England allrounder as she tried to cut the ball. England lost its next three wickets - Charlie Dean, Kate Cross and Lauren Filer - for just six runs and in a matter of five overs. Deepti finished as the pick of the bowlers for India with a five-wicket haul, becoming the second Indian to score a fifty and take a fifer in a Test.
Back to bat, Indian openers Shafali and Smriti got off to a brisk start, with the latter getting off the mark courtesy a six over long on. After a 61-run stand for the first wicket, India lost its openers in the span of 10 runs, with Beaumont taking a sharp catch at short leg to dismiss Mandhana off Ecclestone’s bowling, while Shafali’s aerial shot against Dean landed in Ecclestone’s hands at long-on.
Setting up the wicket to shine
Shubha Satheesh reportedly suffered a mysterious hairline fracture, of which there is no official word yet, and was missing from India’s batting effort. Yastika, consequently, was promoted up the order but fell to Ecclestone after a 14-ball nine. Jemimah looked fluent, finding the boundary at regular intervals but nicked Dean to Beaumont at short leg after a 29-ball 27. Deepti kept the score ticking at a healthy pace, but Dean got her leg before as the ball hit her on the stomach and a review confirmed England’s wicket. Sneh fell to a ball much like the one she used to dismiss Sciver-Brunt, with Dean turning the ball sharply inwards and the Indian allrounder not getting her bat down right to stop it from hitting the stumps.
Harmanpreet got off to a cautious start before hitting a few boundaries to finish unbeaten on 44, a maiden Test fifty well in sight. She stitched a 53-run stand, doing bulk of the scoring with Pooja for company at the other end.
With the wicket showing signs of assistance for spin bowling, made evident Ecclestone and Dean bowling 34 overs in the second innings, India will hope to inflate that lead a little more and give its bowlers the opportunity to hunt for the win. England will need drastic course correction if it is to save, or more impossibly win, its milestone 100th Test match.
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