Smriti Mandhana lights up rainy day

Gold Coast, September 30

Smriti Mandhana headlined a rain-hit opening day with a career-best 80 not out which had elegance written all over it as the Indian women’s team finished on 132/1 in the one-off Day/Night Test against Australia here.

Mandhana, who peppered the off-side field repeatedly with some gorgeous shots to reach 80 off 144 balls with 15 boundaries and a six, added 93 for the opening stand with Shafali Verma (31 off 64 balls).

Most of the second session’s play was washed out but Mandhana added another 16 runs to surpass her previous best of 78. She pulled Tahlia McGrath for a six over deep square leg. Giving her company is Punam Raut (16 batting, 57 balls) and they added 39 runs for the unbroken second-wicket stand before rain stopped play in the 45th over.

The Australian team’s decision to field first after laying a green strip for the visitors did seem to have backfired as Mandhana attacked them straightaway during the first hour of play.

There were an astounding 16 boundaries hit in the first 16 overs, mostly by Mandhana, as Meg Lanning shuffled around with her bowlers without much success. — PTI

Scoreboard

India 1st innings

S Mandhana not out 80

S Verma c McGrath b Molineux 31

P Raut not out 16

Extras: (w 5) 5

Total: (1 wicket, 44.1 overs) 132

FOW: 1-93

Bowling O M R W

Ellyse Perry 7 1 24 0

Darcie Brown 4 0 28 0

Stella Campbell 3 0 14 0

Tahlia McGrath 10 1 34 0

Sophie Molineux 9 4 18 1

Ashleigh Gardner 10.1 3 14 0

Annabel Sutherland 1 1 0 0