India handed Test caps to Jemimah Rodrigues, Renuka Thakur and Shubha Satheesh on Thursday as the Harmanpreet Kaur-led national women's cricket team batted first in the one-off match against visiting England women at DY Patil Sports Academy, Navi Mumbai. (Scorecard | Streaming | Dec 14 Blog | Cricket News)
India women are playing their first Test at home since November 2014, and new stars are wearing traditional whites for a four-day affair. This also marks the first Test for Indian women after the retirements of legends Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami. In fact, only Harmanpreet and her deputy Smriti Mandhana are the only players to have played in that match.
Rodrigues, a prodigious batting talent, has already played 21 ODIs and 80 T20Is. The 23-year-old made her international debut in 2018 in a T20 against South Africa Women. Thakur, 27, made her India debut in 2021 in a T20I against Australia. The pacer has so far played seven ODIs and 32 T20Is.
Satheesh Shubha, a batting all-rounder, is also making her Test debut. The 24-year-old was called up for the Test for the first time, and she managed to impress with her batting (99 and 49) in the practice match.
India women playing XI: Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Deepti Sharma, Yastika Bhatia (wk), Sneh Rana, Shubha Satheesh, Pooja Vastrakar, Renuka Thakur Singh, Rajeshwari Gayakwad.
England, playing their 100th Test match, have a more or less expected XI with Heather Knight still leading the team. This is the first women's Test in India for England since 2005.
England women playing XI: Tammy Beaumont, Sophia Dunkley, Heather Knight (c), Nat Sciver-Brunt, Danielle Wyatt, Amy Jones (wk), Sophie Ecclestone, Charlotte Dean, Kate Cross, Lauren Filer, Lauren Bell.
