Can the Indian women's cricket team do the unthinkable? Can they avenge the 'pink ball humiliation' that the Indian men's team was subjected to, when it was bowled out for 36 and touted inside three days in the pink ball Test at the Adelaide Oval Test last year? That is the question on every Indian cricket fans' lips right now, thanks to a brilliant show by Mithali Raj & Co for the past three days at the Metricon Stadium in Gold Coast, in their maiden pink-ball day/night Test, against Australia.
After India declared at 377 for eight on Day Three, an inspired spell by the evergreen 'Chakdaha Express' Jhulan Goswami, that saw her fetch the wickets of Beth Mooney (4) and Alyssa Healy (29), and then a similar two-wicket burst by her junior pace bowling colleague Pooja Vastrakar, who too was impressive, reduced Australia to 143 for four. The hosts will bank on Ellyse Perry (27*) and Ashleigh Gardner (13*) to rescue them..
When she dismissed Vastrakar, allrounder Perry became the first - man or woman - to take 300 wickets and score 5,000 runs in international cricket, an incredible feat indeed.
Going into the final day, the Aussies- trailing by 234 runs - would be under tremendous pressure to almost bat all day and survive India's onslaught with the ball. There's only one team which can win the game from here, and that's India, which is incredible considering that half the play on both the first two days of this historic game were washed out. If you factor in the point that the visitors have gone into this game with all but two practice sessions with the ball, Sunday could see be one of India's greatest sporting coups. For that to happen though, India would need early blows to pack up Australia early in the first innings.
Brief scores: India 377-8 (Deepti 66) vs Australia 143-4 (Meg Lanning 38; J Goswami 2-27, Pooja Vastrakar 2-31)
