Tahlia McGrath becomes the first woman to score 50-plus in each innings in a losing cause
Sampath Bandarupalli24-Dec-20231 India’s win at the Wankhede Stadium is their first against Australia in women’s Tests. They lost four of their previous ten meetings against them, while six ended in draws.3 Indian have won their last three Tests played at home. India’s previous home Test before the two they played this month was against South Africa in 2014, which they won by an innings. Only one team before India won three consecutive women’s Tests at home – Australia across 1991 and 1992.1 Number of team totals without an individual century higher than India’s 406 in the first innings. India made 428 against England with the highest score of 69 earlier this month in in Navi Mumbai.1 Tahlia McGrath became the first woman to end up on the losing side despite scoring 50-plus in each innings of a Test.122 Partnership between Deepti Sharma and Pooja Vastrakar for the eighth wicket in India’s first innings. It is the second-highest stand for the eighth or lower wicket in women’s Tests, behind the 181-run partnership between Australia’s Sally Griffiths and Debbie Wilson against New Zealand in 1990.4 Deepti has scored at least one fifty in all the four Test matches she has played so far. After Australia’s Denise Emerson, she is only the second player to do so. She is also only the second Indian woman with fifty-plus scores in four or more consecutive Tests, after Hemlata Kala who had five consecutive Tests with a fifty-plus score between 2002 and 2006.5 Fifty-plus stands between Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma across eight Test innings, the joint-most by an opening pair in women’s Tests. They are now levelled with Australia’s Peta Verco and Emerson, and Belinda Haggett and Belinda Clark (also Australia).