Lord’s Test: How did India prepare to hand the hosts such a big defeat?

The irony of Indian women’s historic triumph at Lord’s on Monday was not lost on its legion of fans — coming at a time when their male counterparts have endured some embarrassing series defeats at home in recent years. Harmanpreet Kaur & Co. have been showered with praise since last night, while insiders of women’s cricket feel that a part of the success should be attributed to the BCCI’s recent policy push towards red-ball cricket.

The Indian board carried out a course correction of sorts in the 2023-24 season, adding a senior women’s inter-zonal multi-day trophy to the calendar after discontinuing a similar red-ball tournament following the 2017-18 season. This ensured that at least eight players in India’s Lord’s playing XI — and 12 members of the squad, including Pratika Rawal, who was ruled out due to injury — had played at least one red-ball game in the previous couple of years.

Both Rawal and her replacement for the Test, Priya Punia, had scored centuries in the inter-zonal red-ball tournament in March. In a short calendar packed with white-ball cricket, and with young players eager to carve a niche for themselves in the Women’s Premier League (WPL) to improve their prospects, regular exposure to red-ball cricket can serve as the ideal grooming ground — a point also acknowledged by England’s retiring legend Heather Knight after their 270-run defeat.

“I’d love to see some domestic red-ball cricket,” Knight said in a veiled criticism of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). “I think it will be a massive development tool as well. When we play Test matches, we learn so much. And when we do have a proper build-up, you learn about the game,” she said.

One of the beneficiaries of India’s domestic red-ball tournament has been Yastika Bhatia, who became the first Indian woman to score a Test century at Lord’s. While she has played only four Test matches so far, her red-ball experience is far greater, with 13 first-class appearances under her belt. Smriti Mandhana, arguably India’s most prolific batter across formats in recent years, is the country’s second-highest run-scorer in Tests with 788 runs from nine matches, but she too has 15 first-class appearances.

What also helped India was that, after making a league-stage exit in the T20 World Cup in England, they were able to squeeze in a few more training sessions, practising at the Wormsley Cricket Club ground for a few days before moving to St John’s Wood. Their sequence of Test wins has now left India unbeaten against England, with their last defeat coming in 1995 in Jamshedpur. In each of their last two Tests against England, India have registered their biggest and second-biggest wins in the format.

Sachin Tendulkar, who was present at Lord’s to witness the memorable triumph, congratulated the Indian team on his X handle. “Every cricketer carries the dream of playing at Lord’s. Over the past four days, a new generation lived that dream as women’s Test cricket arrived at the Home of Cricket for the very first time. Congratulations to the Indian team on a wonderful victory. Smriti’s composure, Yastika’s brilliant century and Kranti’s five-wicket haul made this occasion even more special. The journey of women’s cricket has been remarkable, and this was another beautiful step forward,” he said.

Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan lauded the Indian women’s team, calling their victory a “touch of class”. He wrote on social media: “Victory with a touch of class. Well done, Indian women’s team, on the Test match victory against England women. Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma, Kranti Gaud, Yastika Bhatia, Richa Ghosh and Sneh Rana — you all were amazing. Well done, captain.”