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Pooja Vastrakar and Sneh Rana guided India Women to their maiden Test win against Australia after beating them by eight wickets at Wakhede Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday.
After losing the toss, Harmanpreet Kaur's side bundled out Australia for 219 on the first day of the Test match. Pooja Vastrakar led the hosts' bowling attack after she bagged a four-wicket haul and gifted 53 runs. Meanwhile, Sneh Rana picked up three wickets in Australia's first inning. In India's first inning, Shafali Verma (40 runs from 59 balls) and Smriti Mandhana (74 runs from 106 balls) at the top, Jemimah Rodrigues (73 runs from 121 balls) and Richa Ghosh (52 runs from 104 balls) at the middle helped India to 406/10 and took a 187-run lead. After the dismissal of top and middle-order batters, Deepti Sharma (78 runs from 171 balls) and Pooja Vastrakar (47 runs from 126 balls) held India's inning. On the other hand, Aussie spinner Ashleigh Gardner took four wickets. Kim Garth and Annabel Sutherland picked up two wickets each in their respective spells. In the visitors' second inning, Tahlia McGrath (73 runs from 177 balls) and Ellyse Perry (45 runs from 91 balls) gave a tough fight and took the Aussie to 261-10, giving only 75 runs to chase. Rana again prevailed with the ball, scalping four wickets and giving only 63 runs. India skipper picked up two crucial wickets in the final session of the day 03 and dismissed McGrath and Alyssa Healy. In the first session of day 04, the Indian bowling attack picked up the remaining five wickets of Australia by giving just 28 runs. While chasing 75 runs, Shafali Verma (4 runs from 4 balls) started well and smashed a four but was dismissed by Kim Grath in the fourth ball of the first over. Richa Ghosh (13 runs from 32 balls) also helped India during the chase by smashing three fours but she was removed by Gardner in the 16th over. However, the unbeaten knocks from Smriti Mandhana (38* runs from 61 balls) and Jemimah Rodrigues (12* runs from 15 balls) helped the hosts chase the target without any trouble and ended the match on day 04 by clinching an 8-wicket win. After her scintillating performance with both bat and ball, Sneh Rana was named the 'Player of the Match'. (ANI)
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