Image Credit- BCCI
After entering, Richa Ghosh took a seat in front of
the microphone. When asked to do a sound check, she blew air into it, causing
chuckles throughout the room, and then spoke into it. For the following few
minutes, the focus was on responding to the questions and having fun.
Given the difficult times Jemimah Rodrigues has had in
her short career, she is accustomed to unfavourable circumstances. In the
meanwhile, she was substituting Smriti Mandhana, her closest friend. Mandhana
had gone out for 74 after a terrible mix-up with Ghosh, but she stopped as she
was returning to the dugout, turned to face Ghosh, and motioned for her to
ignore it, stay in the centre, and play her game.
With an hour remaining for lunch, Rodrigues and Ghosh,
making their Test debut, found themselves in the middle with India at 147 for
3, still 72 runs behind Australia’s first-inning total of 219.
The fast bowlers from Australia had had difficulty
keeping their lengths and lines in tact. On the day, spin was used to bowl 71
of the 100 overs that Captain Alyssa Healy bowled, forcing her to rely on her
spinners frequently. After hitting fifty on her Test debut, Rodrigues was not
afraid to use her stride for ball defence or off-drives. Ghosh was able to
select spin and adapt to the available varied bounce. They believed that,
initially, the sweep was the best course of action.
The sweep shot, along with the conventional and slog,
was how they scored three of the four fours they struck in the time before
lunch. Unlike Healy, who was beside the ball’s line and was bowled by one that
kept low, they made sure to have the front foot as close to the line of the
ball as possible when attempting to sweep. Rodrigues and Ghosh’s technique let
them adapt to any fluctuating bounce, and in the rare event that they managed
to get the upper hand on the sweep, it landed in the empty space at 45 degrees,
behind square on the leg side.
During their 113-run partnership off 187 balls, Ghosh
chose to use the sweep eight times, while Rodrigues played it to 18 balls
overall. More significantly, they attempted six dot balls in a row while trying
that stroke, meaning Australia’s spinners were unable to stop even one batter
from reaching base.
They even managed to contain offspinner Ashleigh
Gardner, who had a day’s total of 4 for 100 in 41 overs. On a surface that
featured patches of grass but was mainly barren and dry, Gardner posed the
biggest threat and frequently made batters rethink their footwork.
What did not phase India was Australia’s ability to
eke out a few quiet periods, such as the hour before tea when they took those
wickets or the one after tea when they bowled three consecutive maidens and
gave away just 20 in 10 overs. since their youthful guns, who fed off the few
rowdy fans in a pocket, were what brought the vibrations to the Wankhede.
It may take some time for the fact that Ghosh and
Rodrigues helped India dominate another Test match at home. Because of
what transpired.