Bristol: The one-off women’s Test between India and England ended in a draw on Saturday (June 19) in Bristol. India ended their second innings at 344/ 8 on the final day after following-on courtesy of the the gritty duo Sneh Rana (80*) and Taniya Bhatia (44*) saving the match for the visitors.
That was some batting from Sneh Rana & Taniya Bhatia who showed resilience to help #TeamIndia secure a draw🔝
Top-notch effort from 🇮🇳.👏🏻 #ENGvIND
Sneh Rana – 8️⃣0️⃣*
Taniya Bhatia – 4️⃣4️⃣*
Their partnership 🤝🏻 – 1️⃣0️⃣4️⃣*OUTSTANDING 👌🏻💪🏻
Scorecard 👉 https://t.co/Em31vo4nWB pic.twitter.com/oHYcqciFAM
— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) June 19, 2021
England declared first innings at 396/9 before they bundled the visitors for 231 which lead to a follow-on. India though started the day on 83/1. Shefali Verma despite looking good on 63 fell to Sophie Eccelstone. The visitors were riding smoothly with Deepti Verma and Punam Raut at the crease. The duo added 72 runs before the south-paw Verma chopped Ecclestone onto her stumps just before lunch for 54. A horrendous middle order collapse followed soon after that leading India from a comfortable 171/2 to left strangling on 199/7.
With the English bowlers especially Eccelstone (4/118) and Natalie Sciver (21/4) running havoc, India needed a miracle to save the day. Sneh Rana came in for the rescue. The 27-year-old first added 41 with Shikha Pandey for the eighth wicket before, teaming up with Taniya Bhatia for an unbeaten 104-run stand for the ninth-wicket. The duo showed great character and composure in such a crunch situation to take control of game with Rana scoring a 154 ball 80 while Bhatia adding 44 salvaging a draw for India.
