On this day in 2021: Sneh Rana, Taniya Bhatiya’s 9th-wicket stand denies England

2021 was an outstanding year for the Indian cricket team in Tests. While the men’s team staged a remarkable comeback after going down in the pink-ball Test against Australia to seal the series 2-1, even the Indian eves showed great character playing their first away Test match after October 2014.

More importantly, it was courtesy of two youngsters Sneh Rana and Taniya Bhatia that the Indian Eves managed a hard-fought draw in a one-off Test match against England on this very day in 2021.

When the Indian team did the unthinkable against England in their own backyard

The Indian team were relatively inexperienced in Test cricket and that is when they challenged the mighty England in a one-off Test match at the County Ground in Bristol. After winning the toss and batting first, the hosts posted a mammoth total of 396/9 before declaring their innings. It was skipper Heather Knight who led from the front with an outstanding 95.

India in reply suffered an awkward batting collapse from a position of strength as despite Smriti Mandhana (78) and Shafali Verma (96) adding 167 runs for the opening stand, they conceded a massive lead of 161 runs and were asked to follow-on.

In the second innings, Mandhana was dismissed cheaply, but Deepti Sharma (54) and Punam Raut (39) showed a lot of grit and intent. However, it was youngster Shafali (63) who once again made her bat do the talking.

When they were all dismissed, it appeared as if the team would suffer yet another batting collapse. However, Sneh Rana and wicketkeeper-batter Taniya Bhatia took up the initiative of saving the Test match and showed great bravery.

The English players tried to play mind games with the youngsters to distract them, but the duo did not give in and showed a ‘never-say-die-attitude’ as their efforts eventually paid off and India ended the final day’s play at 344/8 to draw the Test.

Rana remained unbeaten on 80 while Taniya Bhatia was not out on 44. The duo added an unbeaten 104-run stand for the ninth-wicket, which dented England’s hopes of coming out on top in their own backyard.

The Indian women’s team maintained consistency in this format as they also went on to register a well-deserved draw against the mighty Australians away from home three months later.