With India Women’s cricket team playing the one-off Test match against South Africa at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, India’s opener Shefali Verma scripted history following a marathon partnership with Smriti Mandhana on the first day of play and scoring the fastest double ton in Test cricket.
Not only did Verma score her maiden century on the first day, but she also made a 292-run partnership with Mandhana. She scored a whopping double century (205) in just 194 deliveries before being run out by Nonkululeko Mlaba and Sinalo Jafta. She is now the fastest woman to hit a double ton.
Before Verma, Australia’s Annabel Sutherland scored a double ton in 256 balls, while Australia’s Karen Rolton scored a double hundred in 313 balls.
Verma became the second Indian, after Mitali Raj, to reach the milestone in the longest format of the game. Earlier, Mitali Raj scored 214 runs off 407 balls in a drawn Test against England at Taunton 22 years ago.
The 20-year-old Shafali’s 205 is the seventh-highest score in women’s Tests, but she missed recording the highest individual score by an Indian in women’s Test innings. She fell 38 runs short of breaking the world record, which goes to Pakistan women’s Kiran Baluch, who scored 242 against the West Indies in 2004.
India dominates on Day 1:
Not only did Shefali score a double century, but Mandhana also scored an impressive 149 off 161 balls, in which she hit 27 boundaries and one six.
Shefali and Mandhana’s opening partnership of 292 runs in just 52 overs surpassed the 241-run opening stand by Pakistan’s Sajjida Shah and Kiran Baluch against West Indies in Karachi in 2004.
By the end of Day 1, India Women posted 525 runs after losing four wickets in 98 overs.
Shashi Tharoor tweets:
Impressed with the blistering performance by Shefali Verma and Smriti Mandhana, Congress’ Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor took to X and wrote, “All of us obsessed with Indian cricket should rejoice at the stellar performance today of our unjustly neglected women Test cricketers!”
Here is the tweet:
Currently, Harmanpreet Kaur (42*) and Richa Ghosh (43*) were on crease and will begin the Day 2 at Chepauk.
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Published: 28 Jun 2024, 06:48 PM IST