IND W vs AUS W: Harmanpreet-led India secures historic win over Australia

Harmanpreet Kaur achieved what her predecessors Shantha Rangaswamy Shubhangi Kulkarni Sandhya Agarwal and Mithali Raj could notOn Sunday Kaur led India to a historic first victory over Australia by eight wickets in 11 Tests dating back to 1977 It was her first dig as a Test captain against Australia at the Wankhede after leading the same side to a record 347run win over England on her captaincy debut the previous week at DY Patil StadiumFearless approachRangaswamy Kulkarni Agarwal and Mithali led India in Tests against Australia previously but tasted defeat There were been six drawn Tests too But with changing times and more exposure in the form of whiteball cricket and T20 leagues the current team are playing fearless cricket and going all out to register wins against all oddsAlso ReadICC denies Usman Khawajas latest attempt to spread awareness on Gaza crisisIt was this character that saw them post successive wins in what was the first time in recent years that the Indian team were playing two backtoback Tests though against different opponents It was also the first time that India registered two wins on the trot in such a short span though they did have three straight victories but in a vast spanmdashAug 2006 against England August 2014 against England and November 2014 against South AfricaIndia reached the victory target of 75 on a pitch that continued to have variable bounce They completed the formalities 35 minutes post lunch after bowling out the remaining five Australian wickets in 75 minutes for an additional 28 runs earlier in the dayThe Indian spinners rightarmer Sneh Rana 463 and leftarmer Rajeshwari Gayakwad 242 wasted little time in bundling out the second half of the Australian second innings earlier on Sunday Rana was on a hattrick removing the dangerouslooking Annabel Sutherland caught behind which required a DRS intervention after umpire N Janani negated the appeal The next ball Alana King was bowled the ball rolling on to the stumps off her ineffective front foot defenceRana Gayakwad shineGayakwad completed the rout taking two wickets in each of the two overs she bowled on the day though coming almost after an hour into the morning session Kim Garth was beaten marginally by the turn from Gayakwad and Jeff Jonassen was done in through the gap between bat and pad both getting bowledIndia vicecaptain Smriti Mandhana ensured India did not panic in the run chase scoring 38 not out She hit the winning runs a lofted drive off leftarm spinner Jonassen to the longon boundaryPlayer of the match Rana who had match figures of 7119 said ldquoThe victorious feeling cannot be described in words It feels good We are very fortunate to play two backtoback Tests in home conditions and win against the two best teams in the world with good margins Wish we get to play more Tests in the future This is a very big moment for us and also the fans To all the fans who supported us a big thank yourdquoShe credited head coach Amol Muzumdar for the crucial role in guiding this team after taking over recently ldquoAmol sir has been an experienced player his inputs have been good We tried to do what was planned and you could see the results in both TestsrdquoBrief scoresAustralia 219 and 261 T McGrath 73 E Perry 45 S Rana 463 H Kaur 223 lost to India 406 amp 752 Smriti Mandhana 38 by 8 wickets