As India continued to inflict more misery on England on Sunday, Yastika Bhatia rode her luck and became the first female Test centurion at Lord’s.
Bhatia may have been dismissed for her overnight 39 off the first ball of Sunday’s contest in what is the first women’s Test at Lord’s, 142 years and 150 matches after the site hosted its inaugural men’s Test.
Lauren Bell’s delivery, which nipped the stump without moving the bails, beat the left-hander on the inside edge.
With India 250-4 in their second innings and a massive overall advantage of 365 runs, Bhatia capitalized on her good fortune to complete an 86-ball fifty with six fours and was 91 not out at lunch on the third day of four.
The 25-year-old Bhatia had no “nervous 90s,” and shortly after play restarted, she reached 99 by hitting England fast bowler Issy Wong for two consecutive fours: a square drive and a slice to point.
Bhatia’s teammates gathered on the pavilion’s India dressing room balcony to celebrate her accomplishment as she punched the air with excitement after a swift single off Wong led her to a hundred off 145 balls, including 12 fours.
Vinoo Mankad, Dilip Vengsarkar, Mohammad Azharrudin, Sourav Ganguly, and Rahul Dravid are just a few of the Indian men’s greats who have scored a Test century at the “Home of Cricket,” including Bhatia. India was ahead by 269 runs when they resumed at 154-1.
Even before a ball was thrown on Sunday, England had to rewrite the record books since Australia’s 198 against England in Sydney in 2011 is the highest successful fourth-innings chase to win any women’s Test.
Additionally, this was their first morning on the field since former captain Heather Knight declared following Saturday’s conclusion that she and longstanding England teammate Tammy Beaumont would be retiring from international cricket following this game.
Smriti Mandhana was in excellent form on Saturday, backing up her 83 in the first innings with another easy half-century.
There were expectations that she would become the first woman to achieve a Test century at the venue, joining teammate Kranti Gaud, who claimed five wickets on Saturday, on the Lord’s honors boards.
However, when Mandhana glanced at a legside delivery from Bell and was smartly caught low to her right by diving wicketkeeper Amy Jones, she had only scored one run to her overnight total of 69.
