England fought back hard in the final 45 minutes of play on day two of this Test to reduce India from 167 without loss to 187 for five at the close, still 59 runs away from avoiding the follow-on, after Heather Knight’s side racked up 396 for nine declared earlier in the day.
While Shafali Verma (96) and Smriti Mandhana (78) shared a 167-run opening stand, the loss of the pair in quick succession – both caught at mid-off – triggered a collapse, as Heather Knight removed the nightwatchman Shikha Pandey and had Punam Raut trapped lbw. Sophie Ecclestone added insult to injury to see off their captain, Mithali Raj, after DRS confirmed she had edged the ball to Tammy Beaumont at short leg.
“We just tried to dig in, keep going and be patient,” Sophia Dunkley said. “We had to keep fighting in the field. Luckily we got that breakthrough and a few wickets – we’ve got a good momentum going into tomorrow.”
The dramatic end to proceedings came after a day in which two players who are not just Test debutants but have zero ODI caps between them – Dunkley (74 not out) and Shafali – proved the standout stars for their respective sides. Because women’s Tests happen so infrequently, Test caps are often seen to be the top of a ladder: you earn your stripes when you have proved yourself in 20- and 50-over cricket. In the lead-up to this Test, there was therefore talk that it would be wrong to chuck in Dunkley and Shafali at the deep end – an idea that proved somewhat misguided on Thursday.
First came the 22-year-old Dunkley, who – having begun the day on 12 – drove, flicked and glanced her way to an unbeaten 74 as if she has been playing Test cricket all her life. Only the decision by Knight to declare England’s first innings, after Dunkley had shared in a pre-and-post-lunch onslaught with Anya Shrubsole (47 off 33 balls), prevented her from powering on to a century.
“My main aim was to try and get us in a good position to go into the afternoon, but to get a 50 on the way is a very special moment for me,” Dunkley said. “I was feeling confident going into the day. I’ll remember this day for a long time.”
At that point, England would have felt quietly confident they had this game by the scruff of the neck: no team have lost a women’s Test after batting first and posting more than 300. Across the afternoon and evening sessions, the teenager Shafali made them think twice, in an innings which was as brash as Dunkley’s was considered. Dunkley’s 50 took 97 balls; she reached the milestone via a nudge through fine leg for two. Shafali’s took 83 balls, including a six punched over mid-off, and was brought up with a four thumped through midwicket against a bowler, Ecclestone, who Knight describes as “the best in the world”.
Dropped twice en route to 96, it was a final slip in concentration that cost Shafali a Test century on debut: going for another big hit, she holed out to Shrubsole at mid-off. That milestone aside, in 152 balls including 13 fours and two sixes, Shafali smashed any doubts about her capabilities as powerfully as she smashed the ball. It remains to be seen if her innings will rob England of the chance to pull off a feat that they have not managed since 2005 and win a Test on home soil.
