The Proteas were forced to follow on, but Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur acknowledged their resolute effort that stretched her squad to the brink and commended their tenacity, particularly in their second innings. She gave openers Mandhana and Verma a lot of credit for their outstanding start, which laid a solid framework for the rest of the batting order.
It’s crucial to recognise the intense effort India put out on the field—or rather, were forced to—despite the final margin of victory in the one-off Test between South Africa and India Women in Chennai. India proved their tenacity by working hard and being tenacious in their effort to overcome the opposition by ten wickets on the fourth and last day of the Test, following an outstanding performance at the bat that included a dominant 603/6 in their opening innings after winning the toss and choosing to bat.
Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana, who scored their greatest red-ball scores of 205 and 149, respectively, opened the innings and contributed an amazing 58.71% of India’s massive first innings total. With a combined total of 292 runs in 52 overs, they constituted the highest opening stand in Women’s Test history as well as the second-highest wicket partnership ever.
Kaur also gave praise to the whole batting team. The Moga native noted how difficult it is to field under adverse weather conditions, reflecting on the difficult conditions that saw India field for a total of 239.1 overs. In addition, the skipper gave praise to the bowling group, especially the spinners, emphasising their perseverance and confidence in taking key wickets to seal the win.
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It wasn’t simple. They played excellent batting. We had to work hard for it; they did not give us an easy victory. Smriti and Shafali deserve praise for providing us with a forum. All of the team members made valuable bat-related contributions. Fielding for so many overs was difficult given the manner we played. Bravo to all of our bowlers—especially the spinners.
They were confident they could take those wickets and win the game, so they continued to bowl. In the post-match press conference, Harmanpreet said, “All of them,” as cited by India Today.
It is important to note that Sneh Rana pulled off an incredible achievement earlier in the match by taking eight wickets, which caused the visitors’ first innings to collapse dramatically and compel the Proteas to follow on. They collapsed in just 12.3 overs, going from 236/4 at the beginning of Day 3 to 266 all out. In addition, Rana’s bowling statistics were the second-best by an Indian and the third-best in Women’s Tests, after Neetu David’s 8/53 against England at Jamshedpur in 1995.
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