India 4 wickets away from victory in Lord’s Test, England close to defeat due to Yastika’s historic century

Delhi: On the third day of the Lord’s Test, the Indian women’s team performed brilliantly in every department and took a strong hold on the match. In the second innings, thanks to Yastika Bhatia’s memorable century and Richa Ghosh’s dynamic batting, India declared the innings after scoring 341 runs for seven wickets. With this, a huge target of 457 runs was set before England. In reply, the England team had lost six wickets for 130 runs by the end of the day’s play. Now India needs only four wickets to register a historic win.

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Yastika took over the innings after the initial shocks

On the third day, India proceeded with its second innings, but England made a good start in the morning session. Fast bowler Lauren Bell put India under pressure by dismissing first Smriti Mandhana and then Jemimah Rodrigues. After this, spinner Sophie Ecclestone raised hopes of England’s comeback by LBWing captain Harmanpreet Kaur. During this time, Sophie Ecclestone also achieved the feat of taking five wickets for the fourth time in Test cricket.

However, on the other end, Yastika Bhatia stood firm. He performed brilliantly and scored 113 runs in 158 balls. This innings was historic in many ways. Yastika became the first female cricketer to score a Test century at Lord’s. Apart from this, it also became the highest individual score ever by any Indian female batsman in the third or fourth innings of a Test match.

India increased pressure due to Richa Ghosh’s fast batting

After Yastika’s dismissal, wicketkeeper batsman Richa Ghosh adopted an aggressive style. He put continuous pressure on the England bowlers and scored unbeaten 50 runs in just 52 balls. Thanks to his quick innings, India took its lead beyond 450 runs. After this, captain Harmanpreet Kaur decided to declare the innings at the score of 341 runs for seven wickets.

Indian bowlers gave big shocks to England with the new ball.

England had a very disappointing start to chase the difficult target of 457 runs. Kranti Gaur and Sayli Satghare, playing their first Test, bowled brilliantly with the new ball and sent both the opening batsmen Tammy Beaumont and Maya Bushier to the pavilion within the first four overs.

After this, Kranti Gaur also brought great success to India by dismissing former England captain Heather Knight. While leaving the field, Indian players also honored Heather Knight by giving her a guard of honour. Soon Sneh Rana increased England’s problems by bowling Nate Sciver-Brunt. At the same time, Sayli Satghare took the wicket of Alice Capsey and reduced the host team’s score to five wickets for 59 runs.

Amy Jones struggles, but India close to victory

After continuous fall of wickets, Amy Jones and Maddy Villiers tried to take control of England’s innings. Both the batsmen kept the Indian bowlers away from success for some time by adding 67 runs for the sixth wicket.

Sneh Rana ended this partnership. Richa Ghosh, standing at silly point on her ball, took a brilliant catch of Maddy Villiers and gave India its sixth success. On the other hand, Amy Jones continued her struggle and completed her half-century and remained at the crease till the end of the day’s play.

Golden opportunity to create history on the fourth day

Also read: Richa Ghosh created history in Lord’s Test, created a new record by scoring a stormy half-century

By the end of the third day’s play, England’s score was 130 runs for six wickets. The host team still needs 327 runs to win, while India needs to take only four wickets to register a historic win. In such a situation, on the fourth day, the Indian team led by Harmanpreet Kaur will have a golden opportunity to register a memorable Test victory at the historic ground of Lord’s.