OTD | Sneh Rana and Taniya Bhatia’s 104-run stand for the ninth wicket denied England women victory at home in the first Test between the two teams in seven years in 2021

On this day, back in 2021, Team India women marked their magnificent comeback in the second innings of a Test match against England women to draw the one-off Test, which was played from June 16 to June 19 at Bristol. Notably, Sneh Rana and Taniya Bhatia were the main stars who guided Team India to win the game. Rana hammered an unbeaten 80 runs from 154 balls, featuring 13 fours, while wicketkeeper batter Bhatia also got 44 runs from 88 balls for the ninth wicket stand to help the Mithali Raj-led side draw the epic show encounter.

Speaking about the game here, it was England skipper Heather Knight who won the toss and invited visiting sides to bowl first in the game. Notably, after opting to bat first, the hosts racked up 396/9 in the first inning. The side got off to a great start as Lauran Winfield Hill made 35 runs while Tammy Beaumont hammered 66 runs. However, skipper Knight took on herself as she went on to make 95 runs from 175 balls featuring nine fours. Following her, Nat Sciver-Brunt contributed 42 runs, while Sophia Dunkley made an unbeaten 74 runs before declaring the inning.

Meanwhile, Sneh Raha and Deepti Sharma took four and three wickets, respectively. However, Team India women got off to a magnificent start in the first inning as opening batters Smriti Mandhana and Shefali Varma went on to make 78 and 96 runs, respectively. Following them, the rest of the players could only manage to get runs in a single digit, which would allow them to face follow-on.

Team India women had a great second innings as Shefali Varma and Deepti Sharma made 63 and 54 runs, respectively, after left-handed batter Smriti Mandhana was sent back to the pavilion at 8 runs. Punam Raut also made 39 runs, while Sneh Rana and Taniya Bhatia scored the magnificent 104 runs between them to draw the game.

Also read: OTD, 2017: A famous, joyous, monumental win for Pakistan. 

anne julliene

See Full Bio