Navi Mumbai: Deepti Sharma claimed a maiden fifer (5 for 7), bamboozling the batters as India Women bundled out England women for 136 in their first innings to take a dominant position on the second day of the four-day one-off Test at the DY Patil Stadium here Friday.
India, who posted 428 in their first innings, gained a lead of 292 runs and decided to bat instead of forcing a follow-on.
Deepti Sharma, who was out for 67 in the morning as India posted 428 in their first innings, adding 18 runs to their overnight score, ended with figures of 5.2-4-7-5, her best bowling performance coming in her third Test.
Cutting down on pace to extract sharp turn at times on a pitch on which some deliveries kept a bit low, Deepti tossed up her deliveries, got a good loop going, and mixed them with straight ones to keep the batters guessing.
The 26-year-old from Agra, Uttar Pradesh claimed the wickets of Danni Wyatt (19), Amy Jones (12), Sophie Ecclestone (0), Kate Cross (1), and Lauren Filer (5) as she came up with the brilliant display of spin bowling.
Fellow off-spinner Sneh Rana, who opened the bowling for India along with debutante pacer Renuka Singh Thakur, claimed the crucial wicket of Nat Sciver-Brunt, who top-scored 59 off 70 deliveries, hitting 10 boundaries. Sneh pitched it wide and extracted a sharp turn as Nat went back and made space to cut it but missed it completely, the ball going on to crash into the stumps. Sneh also trapped Charlie Dean lbw for a duck for figures of 2/25.
But the day belonged to Deepti as she bowled out two batters, had the other two caught by close-in fielders, and pouched one batter off her bowling as the Indians got into the driver’s seat with two more days remaining in this Test.
Earlier, after India’s first innings ended in just 37 minutes with the hosts adding 18 runs to their overnight score of 410/7, the hosts prised out two England batters before lunch.
Debutante Renuka Singh made the breakthrough for India in the third over when her delivery moved in off the pitch and got through the big gap between the bat and pad to crash into the middle stump. England were down to 13/1.
Pooja Vastrakar then made it 28/2 by sending back the dangerous Heather Knight in her first over. England’s skipper, their most experienced player, got out as the ball moved in from outside off, evaded the bat, and struck Knight’s back foot plumb in front of the stumps. The England captain reviewed the decision but the DRS showed no bat was involved.
Tammy Beaumont, who scored a double hundred in England’s previous Test against Australia at Nottingham, was the next to go, run out thanks to a brilliant piece of pick-up-and-throw by Vastrakar. Beaumont and Nat Sciver-Brunt added 51 runs for the third wicket partnership, England’s best in the first innings.
Deepti then got into the act, dismissing Danni Wyatt in her first over, getting her second delivery of the match turned, and taking the inside edge onto her pads, lobbing up as a simple catch for Jemimah Rodrigues at short-leg.
Amy Jones got out freakishly as her pull shot on a short one ricocheted off Smriti Mandhana’s helmet at forward short leg and ballooned for Shafali Verma to catch it at leg-slip. The bizarre dismissal left England at 126/5 in the 30th over.
Sciver-Brunt, who was batting on a run-a-ball 35 at lunch, slowed down a lot and completed her half-century off 63 balls (8×4) as wickets continued to tumble at the other end.
Deepti and Sneh then cleaned up the tail as England lost their last five wickets for 10 runs to concede a big lead.
For India, Deepti (5-7), Sneh (2-25), Renuka Thakur (1-31), and Vastrakar (1-39) shared nine wickets as 13 wickets fell in two sessions on the second day.
Brief scores:
At Lunch, Day 2: India 428 all out in 104.3 overs (Shubha Satheesh 69, Jemimah Rodrigues 68, Yastika Bhatia 66, Deepti Sharma 67, Harmanprret Kaur 49; Lauren Bell 3-67, Sophie Ecclestone 3-91) against England Women 136 all out in 35.3 overs (Nat Sciver-Brunt 59, Deepti Sharma 5-7, Sneh 2-25).
IANS
