ENGW vs INDW: Recalling India’s five Test match wins

As the Indian women’s team are about to end their seven-year-long drought in Test cricket with a highly anticipated fixture against England women’s team in Bristol, we recalled their famous victories in the traditional format.

Staring from their inaugural outing back in 1976 till 2014, the Indian women’s team have played 36 matches. The team has had as many as 25 draws in their results tally, including six defeats. But they’ve also clinched five much-savored victories along their journey, which we’ll recap today.

Five of India women’s Test victories (pic courtesy: Twitter)

Recalling India’s five Test wins

1. India beat West Indies by five wickets, 1976 Patna

The Indian women’s team tasted its maiden Test win in its first series itself when West Indies came to visit the Indian shores for a six-match series in the winter of 1976. In a low-scoring thriller in Patna, skipper Shantha Rangaswamy and her girls created history.

Rangaswamy led her team from the front, taking a couple of crucial wickets and also contributing a vital 32 with the bat in the first half, where Fowzieh Khalili was the top-scorer for India with a 58 – the only 50+ score of the match.

While efforts from Rangswamy and Khalili helped India overhaul the visitors’ first-innings total and take a 34-run lead – which later proved decisive – the match was set up overall by the bowlers.

Shubhangi Kulkarni was the stand-out performer, taking seven wickets in the match (3/43 & 4/14). She was ably supported by Sharmila Chakraborty (2/23) and Diana Edulji (3/24) in the first innings. Chakraborty added three more scalps to her kitty (3/17) in the second innings.

2. India beat South Africa by 10 wickets, Paarl 2002

Despite a swift and successful initiation, the Indian women’s team had to wait as many as 26 years for another victory at the Test level. That elusive second win finally arrived on the 2002 trip to South Africa where they defeated the Proteas women by 10 teams in Paarl.

Having conceded the ODI series 1-2 at the beginning of their short trip, India needed to make a strong statement before they left the African shores. And, captain Anjum Chopra and her team did exactly that with an outstanding performance, which nearly resulted in an innings victory.

Batting first, India posted a very strong total of 404/9 (declared), with Chopra herself top-scoring with an 80 and half-centuries from Anju Jain (52), a young Mithali Raj (55), Hemlata Kala (64) and Mamatha Maben (50) among other contributions.

Once the batters thwarted the home team’s attack, the bowlers got into the act, as Deepa Marathe (3/14) and Neetu David (2/41) shared the bulk of the wickets. But it was Jhulan Goswami, playing only her second Test, who kickstarted the process with the wicket of Proteas opener Kerri Laing. Sunita Singh (1/22) and Bindeshwari Goyal (1/43) also contributed a wicket apiece.

India dismissed the hosts for just 150 and enforced the follow-on. With Goswami, now one of the game’s legends, taking a three-fer (3/63) and David (2/78), Goyal (2/23) and Kala (3/18) also contributing, India again ran through the South African batting unit. Seventies from Alison Hodgkinson (77) and Sunette Viljoen (71) allowed Proteas to avoid an innings loss, but the score of 266 could only set up a target of 13 runs, which India made without any hiccups.

3. India beat England by 5 wickets, 2006 Taunton

India’s next Test win came four years later on their 2006 trip to the UK against England. Playing in Taunton, Mithali Raj and her team dominated the English women and came out victorious by 5 wickets to seal the two-match series 1-0 in their favour.

As it happened, contributions from Raj (65), Rumeli Dhar (43) alongside Anjum Chopra’s stand-out knock of 98 took the visitors past 300 (307) in difficult conditions, before Jhulan Goswami ran through the England batting line-up with a five-fer (5/33). India dismissed the hosts for a paltry score of 99 and took a decisive lead of 208 runs in the first innings.

Opting to enforce the follow-on, Raj once again entrusted Goswami to do the bulk of the job and she didn’t disappoint her skipper, taking another five-fer for the match (5/45). And though a century from skipper Charlotte Edwards (105) helped England overcome the deficit, they could only do so by 97 runs.

India did stutter along their way but ultimately reached the goal past with five wickets still intact to pull off one of their most memorable wins in modern history.

4. India beat England by 6 wickets, 2014 Wormsley

Eight years later, when India revisited England, they once again got the better of the opposition. In a standalone Test match played in Wormsely, India came out triumphant by six wickets.

An exceptional spell from Niranjana Nagarajan (4/19) and fine spells from the rest of the attack, helped the visitors bundle out the hosts for just 92 on the opening day. But, they could only overhaul that total by 22 runs after struggling through their innings. Nagarajan, interestingly, was the top-scorer with a 27.

However, the England women weren’t allowed to turn the tables completely by India’s spirited bowlers, who managed to nearly repeat their first-innings effort in quality and allowed the home team’s innings to go only as far as 202. Having missed out with only one scalp in the first innings, Jhulan Goswami was amongst the wickets in the second and returned with figures of 4/48.

Required 181 runs to chase, India had opening batter Smriti Mandhana (51) and skipper Raj (50*) scoring half-centuries and guiding their team to another famous win.

5. India beat South Africa by innings & 34 runs, 2014 Mysore

Only a few months later, India hosted South Africa and simply crushed their opposition down in Mysore. The hosts flexed their muscles quite nicely and dominated their way to victory by an innings & 34 runs.

Marathon batting efforts from Thirush Kamini (192) and Punam Raut (130) took India to a commanding position before skipper Raj declared the innings at 400/6 and pushed for a win.

Known more for her batting, Harmanpreet Kaur shined with the ball for India and took a five-for (5/44). Together, Kaur and Rajeshwari Gayakwad (4/54) ensured India dismissed South Africa for 234 and had a huge first-innings lead to their name.

Raj then enforced the follow-on and much to her delight, her bowlers once again dismantled the opposition, with Kaur one more time amongst the wickets (4/41) and Jhulan Goswami (2/21), Poonam Yadav (2/22) taking a couple of wickets each.