Mandhana studs India’s opening day of dominance

On Sep 30, 2021

Smriti Mandhana career-best 80 not out set the tone as India dominated the proceedings on their pink-ball debut, on a rain-curtailed opening day of the one-off Test against Australia in Gold Coast yesterday.

Put in to bat first, India had 101 for one on the board by the dinner before periodic heavy showers, as predicted in the lead up to the game, lashed the ground to wash out all but 11 overs of the remainder of the day.

At forced stumps, India had progressed to 132 for one from the 44.1 overs that were possible.

Despite the chorus of lack of pink-ball practice, it was India who aced their time on the field with it partly due to Australia’s lack of discipline but mostly due to a very fluent Mandhana who raced to a 51-ball fifty before Australia could find ways to apply the brakes.

Chief scores

India: 132/1 (Smriti Mandhana 80 n.o, Shafali Verma 31) vs Australia. (Agencies)