Mumbai: Pooja Vastrakar continued to torment Australia as she struck two vital blows as India reduced Australia Women to 180/8 in 60 overs in their first innings at Tea on the opening day of the only Test of the multi-format series at the Wankhede Stadium here on Thursday.
Landing the ball around the good length spot repeatedly, Vastrakar, who claimed her best figures of 3/23 in the second innings of the previous Test against England at the DY Patil Stadium last week, moved the ball both ways and used the early juice in the wicket to trouble the Australian batters.
Having claimed the wickets of Beth Mooney (40) and Ellyse Perry (4) in the first session, Vastrakar added two more wickets adding the scalps of Annabel Sutherland (16, 58b, 2×4) and Ashleigh Gardner (11, 26b, 1×4) to end the session with figures of 4/51 in 14 overs.
Sneh Rana picked up her second wicket of the match when she induced a thin edge off Alana King, as confirmed by Ultra Edge when the Indians used the DRS to good effect.
Off-spinner Deepti Sharma got the key wicket of Alyssa Healy, castling her with one that kept low, ending the Australian skipper’s crucial vigil at the wicket for 38 runs off 75 balls.
At the break, Jess Jonassen (batting 6) and Kim Garth (batting 8) were at the wicket, hoping to add as many runs as possible to give the Australian bowlers a score to bowl at.
Continuing from 103/4 at Lunch, Australia captain Healy and Annabel Sutherland added 40 runs for the fifth wicket. It was slow going as the Indian spinners tied them down,
It was tough going too with the spinners operating from both ends as the ball was spinning and also surprisingly keeping low on occasions.
Healy was looking dangerous while playing forward and straight, as she struck four boundaries to add to the six she opened their scoring with. She was cautious and also looking to score. She was done in by the low bounce playing a sweep shot and played all over a Deepti Sharma delivery and got bowled.
Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur made an inspired change as she brought back Vastrakar for her third spell and the pacer did not disappoint.
She got Sutherland (16, 58b, 2×4) in the first over of her spell with a length ball outside off that nipped back in sharply and caught the batter plumb in front. Annabel was the fourth Australian batter to get a start but could not capitalise on that.
In her next over, Vastrakar sent back Ashleigh Gardner for 11, inducing a thick outside edge with a wobble-seam delivery as the batter poked at it.
India could have got the Australians all out in this session if they had not put down a couple of chances. Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana and keeper Yastika Bhatia dropped a chance each in what was otherwise a decent fielding performance.
Brief scores (At Tea):
Australia Women 180/8 in 60 overs (Beth Mooney 40; Tahlia McGrath 50, Alyssa Perry 38; Pooja Vastrakar 4-44) against India Women.
(IANS)
