Sneh Rana scripts all-round record, takes India to safety

Debutant Sneh Rana helped India, who were forced to follow-on, earn a draw against England on the final day of the one-off Test. On the way, she scored a 50 and took a 4-wicket haul.

Sneh Rana (80*) became the first player from the Indian women’s cricket team to score a 50 and take a 4-wicket haul on debut, her 104-run unbeaten 9th wicket partnership with Taniya Bhatia (44*) helping India to a draw in the one-off Test vs England in Bristol. Following on and within verge on defeat on the final day, India were rescued by Rana and Bhatia’s stand, the highest 9th wicket stand for Indian women in Tests.

Washington Sundar and Amar Singh are the two other Indians with this all-round feat in Test cricket. In women’s cricket, this feat has been done four times, this being the first time by an Indian player.

Sneh Rana, coming in to bat at No.8, stitched together a partnership with Bhatia to take India’s lead past 150 in the last hour of the match. Rana was following up a 4-wicket haul from the England first innings.

She was one of the five debutants named in the Indian Test XI before this match. Along with Shafali Verma and Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana has made the England Test a debut to remember.

Sneh Rana was seen batting without a sponsor logo during her match-saving knock.

India, bowled out for 231 in their first innings in reply to England’s 396, suffered a middle order collapse in their second innings too, before a 9th wicket partnership rescued them. When Rana and Bhatia came together, India’s lead was 75, with more than a session left for England to force a result. The lead crossed 150 in the last hour of Day 4 as the pair put on a resistance for the ages.

The two teams decided to agree to a draw with minutes left on the final day.

(More to follow…)

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