Mumbai: India women’s team skipper Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss and opted to bat first for the one-off Test clash against England on Thursday at the DY Patil Sports Academy.
Both teams will be seeking a victory in the four-day Test, as England have been winless in Test since 2014 and India are playing their first home Test after nine long years.
A couple of new faces are featuring in India’s playing XI, as before the clash, Renuka Thakur, Jemimah Rodrigues, and Shubha Satheesh were handed their Test debut caps.
Ahead of the clash, England skipper Heather Knight expressed the desire to end their winless run before returning home.
“I am desperate to win a Test match. It feels like it’s been a while since we’ve done that as an England side. It’ll be a great finish if we end with a win in the Test. It was so pleasing- the T20 series win. With the T20 World Cup coming up, it feels like we’re in a really good place. It gave our youngsters some time in conditions they’re not otherwise too used to. Playing cricket out here in the heat and humidity is not easy. We’re going to have to play really well. It’ll be satisfying to have a good four days and then wind up with a win and head home for Christmas,” Heather said on the eve of the clash in the pre-match press conference.
On the other hand, Harmanpreet went on to talk about the strategy that the team would adopt for a four-day Test but held back the combination that they could opt for.
“It is a four-day game. So even if you have to bowl for two days, you have to look at who can bowl for two days and who are those batters who can bat for long,” India captain Harmanpreet said.
“If we look at the pitch and decide the combination, it will be different but if we look at our strengths, it will be a different combination. I would like to go with our strengths,” she added.
India Women (Playing XI): Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur(c), Deepti Sharma, Yastika Bhatia(w), Sneh Rana, Shubha Satheesh, Pooja Vastrakar, Renuka Thakur Singh, Rajeshwari Gayakwad
England Women (Playing XI): Tammy Beaumont, Sophia Dunkley, Heather Knight(c), Nat Sciver-Brunt, Danielle Wyatt, Amy Jones (w), Sophie Ecclestone, Charlotte Dean, Kate Cross, Lauren Filer, Lauren Bell
(With ANI inputs)