Her arms outstretched like wings, Harmanpreet Kaur sprinted towards her team-mates as a few hundred spectators chanted her name at the Wankhede Stadium on Saturday.
It was the final hour of third day’s play and the Indian captain brought herself into the attack in the 72nd over as nothing seemed to be working for her bowlers with Tahlia McGrath (73, 177b, 10x4) and Alyssa Healy (32, 101b, 1x4) consolidating Australia’s innings.
There was a huge appeal on the first delivery, but the DRS confirmed that the ball was sliding down leg, thus giving McGrath a sigh of relief.
However, three balls later, the Australian No.4’s efforts to defend led to the ball rolling onto the stumps. With that, Harmanpreet (2 for 23) not only broke the 66-run partnership, but also brought India back into the game. Late strikes led to Australia ending the day at 233 for 5 in its second innings, with a slender lead of 46 runs in an one-off Test.
Harmanpreet bowled nine overs at a stretch, and in between, sparks flew with India appealing for obstructing the field when Healy shielded herself from a Harmanpreet throw. The umpires ruled in the Australian captain’s favour, even though she missed a sweep and was trapped in front by her Indian counterpart shortly.
Those quick wickets broke the momentum for the touring team, which dominated the first two sessions. Resuming on 376 for 7, India could just add 30 runs to its tally before being bundled out within 35 minutes into the day. Though Pooja Vastrakar struck three fours early on, she fell three short of her maiden Test fifty as Australian bowlers Kim Garth and Annabel Sutherland executed the short-ball plan to perfection.
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Deepti Sharma, too, failed to extend her stay and was cleaned up by Garth.
On a rather placid surface, Australian openers looked at ease before Richa Ghosh’s direct throw found Beth Mooney well short of her crease, and soon, Phoebe Litchfield departed after misjudging the length of a Sneh Rana delivery.
Even though Australia looked in a spot of bother at 56 for 2, it turned things around in the second session and the Indian bowlers were made to toil. McGrath joined forces with Ellyse Perry and batted for 25 overs and forged a crucial 84-run stand for the third wicket. Making the most of a couple of reprieves, the pair looked strong before Rana removed Perry.
However, McGrath continued her dogged batting display, went past yet another fifty and built a solid partnership with captain Healy. The duo seemed to be in no hurry and made the most of a few lifelines to solidify the innings. They looked set to extend the lead before Harmanpreet helped India fight back.
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