Indian women’s cricket finds itself in a Test renaissance of sorts. Having played 26 Tests from the 1970s till 1999 and nine Tests between 2000 and 2009, India went on to feature in just two Tests in the next decade.
The year 2021 saw a revival of Indian interest in the format with away Tests against England and Australia, both ending in draws. India then hosted these two opponents at home in what was an astounding winter for red-ball enthusiasts. India thrashed England by 347 runs while Australia was humbled by eight wickets by Harmanpreet Kaur and Co.
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India’s international exploits with the red ball and votes of confidence from several senior players for more fixtures in the format also prompted the revival of multi-day cricket in the domestic setup. The Senior Women’s Inter-Zonal Multi-Day Trophy played in Pune brought red-ball cricket back after it was abandoned in 2018. The upcoming season has gone back to the old Multi-Day Challenger Trophy too, marking the format’s triumphant return to the women’s cricket calendar.
How to make Tests relevant?
Interestingly, neither of those Test wins against England and Australia — lone red-ball fixtures in a series with ODI and T20I fixtures — carried any weightage in the overall scheme of things for those bilaterals.
Unlike the Women’s Ashes, where every match win carried points (four for a Test win, two each in case of a draw; and two points for a white-ball game win), India reportedly chose to take each leg of the series as a separate entity. It was a choice that flummoxed Aussie captain Alyssa Healy whose side brought the silverware from the 2021 trophy, thinking it would get to defend it.
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“We’ve been a part of a few multi-format series where the points system has come into play and it’s given the Test match in particular a greater context, in my mind,” Healy had said in December, 2023.
“And this might be a little bit cheeky, I would have thought that India would have backed themselves in their home conditions and got off to a four-nil start, so it does surprise me a little bit.”
Former India captain Mithali Raj is among many voices who have called for a World Test Championship-like framework in the women’s game to give these one-off Test fixtures greater relevance.
“We have one-day, T20s, so maybe in the coming years, it might also lead to, say a World Test Championship, you never know,” she had said before India’s Test against England in Bristol, 2021. This is a line players like Harmanpreet and Smriti Mandhana have also echoed.
On Wednesday, ahead of India’s one-off Test against South Africa in Chennai, starting Friday, India head coach Amol Muzumdar also batted for greater contextualisation of the Test format in the women’s game.
“It’s not a bad idea to have Test Championships. That’s something to look forward to, but that is for the board to decide. And if it happens, it’s even better for the game. Test cricket is always special.”
India’s push for red-ball cricket has given it a chair at the high-table of the women’s international scene as one of the champions of the format. The nation’s success in the format helps this cause greatly. South Africa is the only nation outside this trio to pursue Test fortunes with relative consistency. Despite starting to play Tests in the 1960s, South Africa Women has played only 14 Tests so far, with seven Tests played on each side at the turn of the millennium.
The Proteas drew a hard-fought fixture against England in 2022 but bore the brunt of inexperience in the innings-and-284-run-defeat at the hands of the Aussies earlier this year. India will be no easy opponent for Laura Wolvaardt’s South Africa.
Muzumdar revealed that red-ball cricket is here to stay in the women’s framework across levels and the players have grown to adapt to the demands of such a workflow.
“In December, we played against England and Australia; we played back-to-back Tests. We are aware that red-ball cricket will be a part of women’s cricket going forward, and hence I feel that the Inter-Zonal, which happened in March-April, was very critical so that the players also get the message that it’s not just white-ball cricket or just T20s that we are focusing on. We are also focusing on the red-ball stuff, and I think they are aware, ready and raring to go in the multi-day format,” he explained.
Balancing continuity and experimentation
India comes into the Test match facing a weaker South African side in addition to the high of a victorious summer.
“We do have the momentum - we won in Bangladesh, we won against South Africa,” Muzumdar admitted. “They are different formats, but at the same time, we are trying to focus on every game as it comes. The demands (of Tests) are different. I think the team is up for it, and I think as far as improvement is concerned, all three departments - batting, bowling, and fielding, and fitness - four departments can improve.”
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India has gone with a stable playing eleven for its Test pursuits, with the likes of Sneh Rana and Rajeshwari Gayakwad being staples. Shubha Satheesh made a case for herself in the format with her showing against England, only to sustain a finger fracture on the second day of the same Test. India also has someone like Arundhati Reddy waiting in the wings to be considered for a debut cap. The itch to experiment may be strong and India could actually confidently scratch it.
India has also brought in 17-year-old pacer Shabnam Shakil into the squads for all three formats. While she is unlikely to make her debut, Muzumdar says having her in the first team environment might help her skill development. Her raw pace and ability to tune her skills to high-pressure situations caught the eye of the Indian coach during the second edition of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) and Muzumdar is all praise for the Vizag native.
“She’s definitely a superb talent, and that’s the reason she is here. We’ve made a conscious decision of including her in the team so that she gets a feel of the dressing room, and also the atmosphere and the culture that we’re building. She gets first-hand experience of that. She’s definitely a good talent, and we will hear more about her in the future.”
Another bowling option Muzumdar has at his disposal is vice-captain Smriti Mandhana, who took the Chinnaswamy Stadium by storm by bowling her funky right-arm medium pace, taking a wicket off her first over too in the ODI leg.
“She’ll be happy that I’ve said yes to her bowling in the red-ball format as well,” Muzumdar quipped.
The bigger dividend is Mandhana’s evolution as a leader over the last year, which saw her become more involved in the strategic think-tank of the Indian side and lead Royal Challengers Bengaluru to its maiden WPL title this summer.
The vice-captain can often be seen spending long periods of time with individual players. The image of her consoling Richa Ghosh after RCB’s one-run loss to Delhi Capitals during WPL 2024’s league game, her faith in Sophie Molineux during the WPL auction and the triumphant season that followed, how she pulled off that title triumph itself and her words to Asha Sobhana to keep pushing for an India cap are all testament to her own growth as a leader.
“She has been fantastic with the group, she has been an amazing support in the team. She has carried herself very well. I enjoyed her WPL exploits as a captain. More than anything, she is a senior player and she interacts with all the young players and keeps the dressing room good. That’s very special.” Muzumdar said.
With four days of Tests and an opposition with plenty of quality to take on, India will hope to register another win to seal the second of three legs in this series in its favour.
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