The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
Shafali takes centre stage, Smriti best supporting act; India post 525/4
THE BIGGEST threat to Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana's stay in the middle at Chepauk on Day 1 against South Africa came from (not necessarily in that order): stray throws aimed in the vicinity of their existence, at times disjointed running between the wickets, minor lapses in concentration and Chennai's humidity. It was therefore no surprise that Shafali's stunning knock of 205 was ended by a run out, because she didn' t look like getting dismissed any other way.
In what will go down as one of the most memorable knocks by an indian batter, the 20 year-old walked off to a standing ovation from as parse but engaged crowd, appreciation from the south african players and a proud applause from Mandhana in the dugout. By the end of the day, a mammoth opening partnership had laid the foundation for India to finish on a whopping 525/4, already their highest total in women's Tests.
For the first part of the day, it was the Sh a fa li-s mr it is how as they piled up an all-time best women's Test opening stand of 292. Once Mandhana departed for 149, Shafali took centerstage and how. One shot out of the 23 fours and eight sixes that the Indian youngster hit on the opening day of the One-off Test stood out. Sharp at 2.10pm local time, with two deliveries left for tea, Shafali danced down the track against Delmi Tucker, and smashed the ball over long on. That one moment summed up how Shafali was in complete control of her knock, assured in her footwork all day.
Assured Shafali
When the day's play began, the Indian openers took their time to get a feel of the wicket. There wasn't significant movement with the new ball, the bounce was consistently on the lower side. While we have come to expecttextbook technique from smri ti, it is not an adjective one would associate withs ha fa li. and yet, the right-hand er was decisive in her front foot press, playing with a straight bat, and not losing her shape. The swashbuckler from Haryana, who made her international debut at 15, has always had the reputation of a bighitter who can delight and frustrate in equal measure. her best format remain st 20 while in ODIS she has found the going tough.
But paradoxically, it's in Test cricket where she has often looked the most comfortable. A debut in England didn't faze her when she scored 50+ in both innings. She notched up a fifty in australia too for good measure. and just on the back of a less-than-ideal run in the odis in Bengaluru last week, she stepped it up in Chennai as she donned the whites once more.
It is a strange thing to say on the day she registered the fastest-ever recorded double century in women's Tests, but her effort at the MA Chidambaram Stadium had phases of impressive restraint too. She didn't mindlessly slog at any point of the day, but kept peppering the boundaries regularly. In fact, it was only when she went from 187 to 199 with back-toback sixes that her strike rate crossed 100 for the first time. And with a tap to long off for a single, she leaped in front of the famous Madras Cricket Club.
A double century off 195 balls. The second youngest behind mi th ali raj to reach the landmark. Part of the second highest ever partnershipin the format ." ire ally hopes ha fa li crosses 214 and breaks my record( for an indian ). after all, records are meant to be broken," Mithali had posted on Twitter as 'Shifu' closed in on her double. But it wasn't to be when a mix-up with Jemimah Rodrigues led to the unfortunate run out.
Smriti’s purple patch
Picking up where she left off in Bengaluru, was smri ti. after ending along wait for her first international century in Indian, she now has scored three in the span of two weeks( and one 90 in between). The first boundary of the day came in off the fifth ball of the seventh over, but from there, the flood gates opened. in the 22 overs preceding lunch, a total of 24 boundaries were hit by the duo and the rate only went up in the second session.
In the first ball of the 32 nd over, ma nd han a was putin mild discomfort by mas a bat a kl a as, as a good length ball kept a tab bit low.
The opener got her bat down just in time and stood firm in the crease. Klaas, for some reason, decided to take a shot at the stumps but her throw was so wild that it went for four. M and han ash rugged and smiled, as she earned four easy runs to her name. It also personfied South Africa's struggles.
Not that there st of her runs seemed hard as
Mandhana peppered the offside fence with immense regularity, scoring 76.5% of her 149 runs off boundaries. (For comparison, Shafali scored around 68% of runs with fours and sixes). In fact, when the two were batting together,the only real contest seemed to be who will reach their century first. (Shafali did a ball earlier than Smriti, for the record). A measure of how well ma nd han a had been batting could be gauged from the feeling that accompanied her dismissal. Even a supremely elegant 149 felt a few runs short.
BRIEF SCORES: India 1st innings 525 for 4 in 98 overs( sh af alive rm a205,smri tim andh ana 149, Jemimah Rodrigues 55, Harmanpreet Ka ur 42 not out, rich ag ho sh 43 not out; del mi Tucker 2/141) vs South Africa.