A significant number of overs were lost on Day 2 due to torrential rain in the day-night Women's Test match between Australia and India. India began the day with Smriti Mandhana on 80 and Punam Raut on 16.
Mandhana was caught at point off Ellyse Perry to the second ball of the day, but replays revealed that Perry had overstepped. Mandhana did not look back. From 93, she smashed two fours off Perry to bring up not only her first Test hundred but also the first by an Indian woman in Australia, and the second by an Indian woman against Australia (after Sandhya Agarwal in 1984). Her 127 is the highest by a visiting woman in Australia.
The duo was looking steady with Mandhana trying to steal boundaries whenever she could. She was eventually caught by Tahlia McGrath at mid off off Ashleigh Gardner. By then, she and Raut took the team total close to 200, adding 102 for the second wicket. When Mithali Raj walked in, India’s stage was set for a big score.
Raj began defensively, scoring boundaries occasionally, but 20 runs later, Raut decided to walk after the umpire turned down a half-hearted appeal of caught behind appeal off Sophie Molineux, causing much discussion on social media.
The second session began at 231/3 with Mithali Raj (15) and Yastika Bhatia (2) at the crease. Runs did not come fluently, but India needed another big partnership. After adding 44, both left in space of 13 runs, and the session eventually ended on 276/5. India lost their last four wickets for 79.
Debutant Bhatia was smartly caught by Beth Mooney as she mistimed an Ellyse Perry delivery. The next wicket came due to a mix-up between Raj and Deepti Sharma, resulting in a dismissal for the former. Australian bowled well in patches and took the new ball in the 82nd over but rain came in a while to curtail the evening’s play.
India’s day ended with Sharma on 12 and Taniya Bhatia on 0.
Brief scores: India Women 276/5 (Smriti Mandhana 127; Sophie Molineux 2-28) vs Australia Women.