Getty ImagesOn Monday afternoon, India cricketer Sneh Rana delivered the ball at London’s iconic Lord’s cricket stadium, completing a journey for the Indian women’s cricket team that has been half-a-century in the making.
The bandana-wearing off-spinner, who hails from a small town in northern India, floated one outside the off stump. England’s Sophie Ecclestone, having just completed a flamboyant half-century, pressed forward, only for the ball to dip, grip and sneak between bat and pad into the stumps.
Rana blew a kiss skywards as her teammates rushed towards her in jubilation. England were all out for 186 on the fourth and final day, giving India a 270-run victory – the biggest by a visiting team against England in women’s Tests and the fourth largest in the format’s history.
The celebrations, however, were as much about the past as the present. Throughout the match, India’s players repeatedly paid tribute to the pioneers who had laid the foundations of women’s cricket in the country, insisting that this moment belonged to them too.
The victory came 40 years after India’s maiden women’s Test tour of England in 1986 and extended their unbeaten Test record in the country to 10 matches – three wins and seven draws.
“Playing at Lord’s is always special,” Harmanpreet, now India’s most successful Test captain with four victories compared to her predecessor Mithali Raj’s three, told the host broadcaster after the match.
“I really want to thank the people who thought about bringing one Test match here. These kinds of matches bring a lot of happiness and excitement. Hopefully, we’ll keep getting more Test matches and keep performing the way we are doing,” she added.
Getty ImagesThe 37-year-old was playing only the eighth Test of her 17-year-long international career, a reminder of the few opportunities her generation has had in the longest format.
At the pre-match press conference, she had reflected on what it meant to still be present for the occasion: “Maybe it’s late but not too late. Still I’m playing and still getting this opportunity to be part of this historic day.”
History was made in other ways too. The first women to earn places on Lord’s famed Honours Boards were Indians.
On Saturday, 22-year-old seam bowler Kranti Gaud became the first woman on the bowling board after taking five for 37 in England’s first innings. Gaud comes from Ghuwara, a small town in central India, and her mother once pawned her jewellery to buy one of her first cricket kits.
A day later, Yastika Bhatia, the left-handed batter from Vadodara, another small town in western India, followed. Her confident 113, the first international century of her career, made her the first woman to score a Test hundred at Lord’s and placed her on the batting board.
Yet, in her own moment of history, Bhatia looked back at those who made it possible.
“I think they [the pioneers of women’s cricket in India] have done an invaluable contribution because Test cricket is, like you said, [been going on for] 50 years,” Yastika said at the post-play press conference.
“Their contribution has inspired us to take up cricket and to perform the way we are doing today, so their role is very crucial and they have laid the foundation,” she said.
She added that the pioneers of women’s cricket in India hadn’t received the recognition they deserved.
“So we should now take a moment to thank them for their contribution and what they have done for Indian cricket, for world cricket, and inspired so many young cricketers,” Bhatia said.
Getty ImagesTogether, Kranti and Yastika became the faces of a victory in which India found a different match-winner in almost every session.
Vice-captain Smriti Mandhana set the tone with an attacking match tally of 153 runs, the highest of the game. Harmanpreet, Deepti and Richa Ghosh all made half-centuries, while seamer Sayali Satghare bowled with pace and the spin trio of Rana, Deepti and debutant N Sree Charani provided control.
The triumph arrived eight months after India lifted their maiden senior Women’s ODI World Cup in Navi Mumbai and a fortnight after a wretched T20 World Cup campaign ended in a group-stage exit at Lord’s.
Its significance, however, stretched much deeper into history. Organised women’s cricket in India began through the enterprise of a man named Mahendra Kumar Sharma, the founding secretary of the Women’s Cricket Association of India (WCAI), when the organisation was formed in 1973.
Sustained largely by volunteers with limited resources and immense conviction, the WCAI nurtured the first generations of Indian women cricketers.
Three years later, Shantha Rangaswamy of Bengaluru captained India in their first officially recognised international series, a six-Test contest against West Indies. The series began in Bengaluru and ended with India’s maiden international victory in the fourth Test in Patna.
A decade later, India made their first tour of England, playing three Tests and three ODIs. Shubhangi Kulkarni captained the opening Test at Wetherby before Diana Edulji led the remaining two at Blackpool and Worcester.
Forty years on, Harmanpreet and her trailblazing band of sisters preserved India’s unbeaten record.
Getty ImagesFittingly, the scorebook connected generations: Mandhana became only the second Indian woman after Sandhya Agarwal to score 70 or more in both innings of a Test, while Rana’s fourth haul of four or more wickets in 10 Test innings drew her level with Neetu David, behind only Kulkarni and Jhulan Goswami.
Before the match, Harmanpreet had acknowledged the debt owed to those who came before.
“Our seniors have always supported us immensely. No matter how difficult the phases in our lives have been, they have always stood by us. It is because of their support that we have been able to grow so much over the years,” she said.
Those words echoed as celebrations unfolded before unprecedented crowds.
A total of 37,846 spectators attended the match across four days, the highest cumulative attendance for a women’s Test.
Indian batting legend Sachin Tendulkar was at Lord’s on the final day, exactly 24 years after helping India win the NatWest Series final at the same ground under Sourav Ganguly’s captaincy. ICC chairman Jay Shah and several BCCI officials were also in attendance.
Yet, for all the prominent figures present, none of India’s pioneers were at Lord’s to witness it. Through Harmanpreet and Bhatia, however, they remained at the heart of the story.
Fifty years after India’s women entered international cricket, a journey that began on modest grounds across the country had reached its defining moment with a historic Test victory at the Home of Cricket.
Annesha Ghosh is a freelance sports journalist, broadcaster and documentary producer.
