Majestic Mandhana

Rain wiped out a significant part of the second dayrsquos play after India opener Smriti Mandhana 127 stole the limelight with a magnificent maiden Test hundred in the historic womenrsquos daynight match against Australia here on FridayIndia were 276 for five in 1015 overs when lightning forced the players indoors some time after the dinner break meaning more than a sessionrsquos play was wasted due to inclement weather The lightning was followed by rain rendering the outfield wetThe Carrara Ovalrsquos excellent drainage system notwithstanding play could not resume as the outfield needed more than a few hours to dry even after the supersopper was employed by the proactive groundstaffDeepti Sharma was batting on 12 and Taniya Bhatia was yet to open her account as the players walked off the field and covers were brought onThere will be 108 overs bowled on each of the last two days of the match India lost two wickets in the second session including that of skipper Mithali Raj for 30 and debutant Yastika Bhatia for 19 Mithali who was looking good for a big one was run out after playing a few lovely shotsEarlier flamboyant opener Mandhana shattered a few records en route to slamming a magnificent Test century as India progressed to 2313 in the second dayrsquos opening sessionItrsquos special SmritiMandhana 25 became the first Indian woman to hit a century in daynight Tests and also the first from the country to reach three figures in the gamersquos traditional format on the Australian soilMandhana made 127 off 216 balls with the help of 22 boundaries and a six at the Carrara Oval and added an Indian record of 102 runs in Australia for the second wicket with Punam Raut 36She had put on 93 with Shafali Verma on the opening day She brought her century with a shortarm pull shot off Ellysse Perry in the 52nd overWith her sublime hundred Mandhana broke a 72yearold record ldquoPretty special do something like breaking a 70year old recordmdashI donrsquot think Irsquove done something like that ever in my lifeldquoI am just more than happy that I could actually give that kind of foundation for the teamldquoThe individual feats will happen but the kind of position the team are inmdashIrsquom happy with that morerdquo she saidMandhana wouldnrsquot have added to her overnight score of 80 in the second over of Day Two but Perry overstepped Replays showed that the catch too might have been debatableEarly jittersThe Indian opener however overcame early jitters and went about her business in a professional manner while playing some lovely shots including a magnificent straight drive off Annabel SutherlandShe looked set for more but was caught at short midoff off the bowling Ash Gardner after playing an uppish driveRaut walked off after a caught behind appeal despite the umpire not entertaining Alyssa Healy and Meg Lanningrsquos loud shoutsMithali though got into the job straightaway sweeping and driving Gardner for fours1Smriti Mandhana became the first Indian woman to score a Test century in AustraliaCheck out all the latest news and updates on IPL 2021This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliabilitsy and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever