After gaining confidence with a stellar performance in ODIs, the Indian women’s cricket team will now go through trials after making their day-night Test debut against Australia in the one-off match starting at Gold Coast on Thursday. .
With the third ODI on Sunday and a rest day the next day, the Mithali Raj-led side have got only two practice sessions ahead of the historic Test. The visitors lost 1-2 in the short format series.
The team knows very little about how the bright pink ball will behave during games at Metricon Stadium.
Australia, who played their only day-night Test in November 2017, also enter the game with limited practice but their mighty pace attack will be expected to wreak havoc on the lush green pitch here.
India did well in their first Test in seven years, drawing against England in June, but players and experts agree that the slippery pink ball will pose a very tough challenge for the visitors.
India and Australia last played a Test in 2006 with only Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami involved in that game between current players from both sides.
“I would call it an ordeal for Indians. The players have hardly played with the red ball in the last three to four years. Former India captain and BCCI Apex Council member Shantha Rangaswamy said the Day-Night Test is a completely different ball game and a much tougher challenge.
“Although Australia has more Test experience than India in recent times, their players have also not played much in the whites. Some of their key players are missing and India showed (in ODIs) that Australia are worth defeating.”
Shantha, who led India to its first Test victory in 1976, also lauded the BCCI for resuming Test cricket for women and expressed hope that two-day red ball cricket would be brought back to domestic cricket.
Harmanpreet Kaur remained unavailable despite being hit in the nets on the eve of the game.
He said, ‘Harman injured his thumb while fielding, so he is out. It still hasn’t healed well,” Mithali said on the eve of the match.
Rookie batsman Yastika Bhatia and pacer Meghna Singh, who made impressive starts in the ODI series, may be handed their maiden Test caps.
Experienced Jhulan Goswami, Meghna and Pooja Vastrakar are potential speed combinations. Spinner Sneh Rana is likely to be the other all-rounder in the team along with Deepti Sharma.
Wicketkeeper Tania Bhatia, who was toppled by Richa Ghosh in the ODIs, is expected to be back behind the stumps.
Poonam Raut, who featured in the England Test and lost her spot in the ODI, is expected to play.
Australia, on the other hand, suffered a pre-game setback and vice-captain Rachel Haynes was ruled out due to a hamstring injury.
Captain Meg Lanning said the team would choose either a fast bowling all-rounder or a specialist batsman in his place.
Annabel Sutherland is expected to make an impressive debut in ODIs.
He said, ‘It will depend a bit on the wicket. There’s a green in there, and it potentially brings some of our fast bowlers into the frame.
“We just need to decide whether we want to go with the specific batsman position or the all-rounder position, so we will decide after training today,” Lanning said.
Australia will be aiming for a perfect game after India’s 26-match winning streak comes to an end in the third ODI.
With the pink ball, his relatively inexperienced pace attack is more than capable of troubling the Indian batsmen.
Australia team: Meg Lanning (c), Darcy Brown, Matlen Brown, Stella Campbell, Nicola Carey, Hannah Darlington, Ashley Gardner, Alyssa Healy, Tahlia McGrath, Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Georgia Redmayne, Molly Strano, Annabel Sutherland, Tyla Vlaeminck , Georgia Wareham.
India team: Mithali Raj (c), Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Punam Raut, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Yastika Bhatia, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Shikha Pandey, Jhulan Goswami, Meghna Singh, Pooja Vastrakar, Rajeshwari Gayakwad , Poonam Yadav, Richa Ghosh, Ekta Bisht.
The match is starting at 10 am IST.
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