As India beat England by 347 runs in the one-off Test, which is the biggest margin of victory by runs in women's
Test cricket
, TOI takes a look at the three memorable Test wins for India.
THE FIRST SUCCESS
Opponent: West Indies
Place: Patna
Date: Nov 17-19, 1976
Scores: West Indies 127 and 88; India 161/9 and 55/5.
Result: India won by 5 wickets
In the winter of 1976, India faced off with the West Indies for their first-ever Test series.
The first three Tests were drawn. The fourth was played at Patna’s Moin-ulHaq stadium although Jamshedpur’s Keenan Stadium was the preferred venue for big games in undivided Bihar those days.
The match drew spectators even from nearby towns. Every day the 25,000-capacity stadium was packed. The cricket was glacial-paced. The visitors mustered a mere 127 in 60 overs in the first essay. India declared after scoring 161/9 in 100.5 overs, with ’keeper-opener Fowzieh Khalili top scoring with 58.
In the second innings, the visitors had little clue to the wiles of leg-spinner Shubhangi Kulkarni (4/14) and left-arm spinner Sharmila Chakraborty (3/17) and succumbed for 88. A victory looked certain. But India were rocked by pacer Nora St Rose’s early strikes and stuttered to 5/25.
But the very young
Diana Edulji
’s fearless cricket turned the tide. When she stepped out and swept the ball to the square-leg boundary for the winning hit, the stadium erupted. People lined up the streets to cheer captain Shantha Rangaswamy and company.
It was India’s first Test victory. The six-match series was drawn 1-1 after India lost the last Test in Jammu.
FIRST VICTORY ABROAD
Opponent: South Africa
Place: Paarl
Date: March 19-22, 2002
Scores: India 404/9 & 13/0; South Africa 150 & (follow on) 266.
Result: India won by 10 wickets
In the 2023 Navi Mumbai Test, four India batters scored half-tons; and captain Harmanpreet Kaur missed the mark by a run. But 21 years ago, five Indian cricketers had reached the landmark.
Captain Anjum Chopra scored the highest, 80, followed by Agra’s Hemlata Kala (64), who also took three vital wickets in the second innings.
Mithali Raj
(55), Anju Jain (52) and Mamatha Maben (50) were the other three.
It was enough for coach Tarak Sinha’s team to post 404/9 and twice bowl out the hosts. Left-arm spinner Deepa Marathe scalped 3/14 in the first innings while pacer
Jhulan Goswami
took 3/63 in the second.
It was a historic away win; the men’s team won their first Test in South Africa only in 2006. But as captain Chopra said after the win, “There will probably be very little or no media publicity about our achievement.”
How times change!
A JHULAN GOSWAMI SHOW
Opponent: England
Venue: Taunton
Date: Aug 29 to Sept 1, 2006
Scores: India 307 and 98/5; England 99 & (follow on) 305
Result: India won by 5 wickets
Pacer Jhulan Goswami’s 10-wicket haul (5/33 & 5/45) was key to Mithali Raj-led India’s hard-fought win. Anjum Chopra’s 98 and Raj’s 65 took India to 307. The hosts crumbled before the seam and swing of Goswami, Amita Sharma (2/19) and Rumeli Dhar (2/16).
Charlotte Edwards’ 105 in the second innings forced India into a tricky chase. At one time the visitors were precariously perched at 74/5, but captain Raj and Delhi’s Reema Malhotra saw the team home.
Coach Sudha Shah told TOI, “We had three champagne bottles. Jhulan got two, Mithali got one. But unfortunately we emptied it on ourselves.”
English (US) ·