Pink-ball Test: Smriti Mandhana, bowlers help India women dominate but Australia escape with a draw

India dominated a major part of the match but Australia still managed to hold on for a draw in the one-off Pink-ball Test played at the Carrara Oval in Gold Coast over the past 4 days. Pink-ball Test: Jhulan Goswami led the Indian bowling attack with 3 wickets in the match (Courtesy of BCCI)HIGHLIGHTSIndia (377/8d & 135/3d) vs Australia (241/9d & 36/2) one-off Test ended in a drawSmriti Mandhana was adjudged Player of the Match for scoring 127 and 31 runs in the day-night TestAustralia lead India 6-4 in the multi-format series so far, both teams will next play 3 T20Is from Oct 7Australian women managed to escape with a draw in the Pink-ball Test on Sunday despite India dominating majority of the proceedings over the last four days at the Carrara Oval in Gold Coast.

Rain interruptions made it impossible for both teams to produce a result over four days even though India women tried their best to win the historic Test after riding on brilliant performances from Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma, Shafali Verma and the bowlers led by the experienced Jhulan Goswami.India women, playing their first Pink-ball Test, posted 377 for 8 declared in the first innings with Mandhana top-scoring with 127 to become the first woman from the country to hit a hundred in a day-night Test. Deepti Sharma (66), Punam Raut (36) and Shafali Verma (31) also made useful contributions to the total.The visitors then took a 136-run first innings lead as Australia declared on 241 for 9 with Ellyse Perry (68 not out) and Ashleigh Gardner (51) scoring important half-centuries. Pooja Vastrakar bagged 3 for 49 for India while Jhulan Goswami, Meghna Singh and Deepti Sharma grabbed a couple of wickets each.India then posted another 135 runs on the board for the loss of 3 wickets to give Australia an improbably target of 272 to win with a few overs remaining in the final session on the final day. Shafali scored 52 while Mandhana made 32 and Punam Raut remained unbeaten on 41 before the declaration.Goswami and Vastrakar bagged a wicket each as the Aussies managed 36 for 2 in 15 overs before the umpires decided to call for the end of play.Mandhana, who was adjudged Player of the Match for her maiden Test hundred, rated this knock as one of the top-three in her career so far.”Definitely in my top three innings. It was the most nervous night I’ve ever had, the first day of the Test match. Slightly lucky with that no-ball on 80, that cleared my mindset that now that I’ve got a chance I’ve to make it count.”As a player it’s the topmost thing to wear whites and go out. Today was a different situation as compared to the first day, that only happens in Test cricket,” Mandhana said after the match.Click here for our site’s complete coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.