India vs South Africa: Sneh Rana strikes after hosts notch record total

Chandigarh: India off-spinner Sneh Rana must have spent considerable time with South Africa opener Laura Wolvaardt in the Gujarat Giants camp during the Women’s Premier League (WPL) season 2 to gauge the 25-year-old’s brilliance with the bat.

Wolvaardt in the last two months has shown the kind of player she is, smashing an unbeaten 184 against Sri Lanka and an unbeaten 135 versus India in the second ODI in Bengaluru a few days ago. Rana, bowling after almost five months for India on Day 2 of the women’s Test at Chennai’s MA Chidambaram Stadium, plotted Wolvaardt’s dismissal with a clever delivery to end South Africa openers’ resistance in reply to India’s first innings 603/6, the highest total in women’s Test.

South Africa ended the day on 236/4, trailing by 367 runs.

Rana also accounted for the crucial wickets of Anneke Bosch (39) and Delmi Tucker (0) to finish as the most successful bowler on Day 2, on a wicket that started assisting spin post lunch. Wolvaardt and Bosch tackled the bowling well early to reach 29 in six overs before lunch.

However, success for India came when Sneh Rana delivered a blow in the second over after lunch by removing the SA captain on the final ball by trapping Wolvaardt in front (20— 36b). India had to wait 22 overs for the next wicket, Rana again drawing Bosch (39—73b) to edge to slips where Deepti Sharma took the catch.

The experienced Sune Luus and Marizzane Kapp then raised a 92-run partnership to frustrate the Indian bowlers. The duo played with caution and collected runs with ease. India pacers Pooja Vastrakar and Renuka Singh bowled nine and seven overs respectively, but found no success for 29.1 overs.

Left-arm spinner Rajeshwari Gayakwad, the most experienced bowler, failed to make an impact. In the wicketless 16 overs she bowled on Day 2, she leaked 50 runs. India’s bowling charge was led by Rana, who found support in off-spinner Deepti Sharma.

Deepti broke the Kapp-Luus stand by dismissing Luus for a patient 65 off 164 balls. The last wicket of the day for India came when Rana removed Delmi Tucker, having her caught behind by Rich Ghosh to make it 198/4.

At close, Kapp, with eight boundaries, was batting on 69 with Nadine de Klerk on 27.

In the morning, India resumed on 525/4 with Harmanpreet (69) and Richa Ghosh (86) together. India declared innings at 603/6 on the dismissal of the Indian wicketkeeper.

After the day’s play, Sneh Rana said: “It was so satisfying to take Wolvaardt’s wicket. The openers were playing well and we just wanted to get the first breakthrough. It was Wolvaardt and I was elated to get that.”

Rana had scalped a match-winning seven wickets in her last Test, against Australia at the Wankhede Stadium in December. “Australia is the No.1 team in the world and doing well against them is always special. Coming back to the Indian team and bowling is a great feeling. A lot of hard work has gone into preparing. We had a camp and also an inter-zonal tournament with the red-ball. My plan is always very simple with the red ball, that is to bowl the stock ball and go for wickets. We had done some homework on their batters, which helped,” said Rana, who pointed out that initially in the day there wasn’t much turn in the wicket, but later turn and bounce came into the picture.

With the wicket expected to afford more turn on Day 3, the Indian spinners will hope to quickly take the six wickets in the SA first innings and force the follow on.