Ahead of the Indian women's cricket team’s multi-format seven-match tour of Australia, India opener, Smriti Mandhana admitted that she never thought the team would be able to experience a day-night Test, saying there is huge excitement about being part of the pink ball game.
Mandhana, whose two-Test appearances date back to 2014, didn’t believe that they would get to play a Pink ball Test until the announcement of India Women's first-ever pink-ball Test against Australia to be played from September 30 to October 3 at the WACA Ground in Perth.
It will be India Women’s first four-day fixture against Australia since 2006. India will also play their second Test match (one-off Test) this year against England next month in Bristol.
Mandhana told ESPNcricinfo on Wednesday (May 26): “Frankly, when I used to watch day-night Tests of men, I actually never felt that I will be able to experience this moment — it’s wrong to say ‘I’ at the moment — that the Indian team will be able to experience the moment. So, when it got declared, I was like, ‘Oh, wow. That’s going to be crazy.”
She added, “I remember playing my first day-night one-day or T20 match. I was pretty excited, like a small kid. I was like, ‘Wow, we’ll be able to play a day-night match and all of that. Now that we are going to play a day-night match, (we have) lots of things to work on but (there’s a) lot of excitement… excitement about being part of a day-night Test match, and that too in Australia, against Australia, it’s always a good challenge. It’s going to be a great moment for the Indian women’s cricket team.”
Well, the 24-year-old said they are very excited about the day-night Test in Australia, but stressed that the focus right now is on the one-off Test against England, starting June 16.
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She added, “It’s too early at the moment. It’s just going to be a process. You have to get adapted to it. It’s too early for us to start the pink-ball preparations because the match is three-four months later. At the moment it’s more about the England Test match, the Duke’s ball, and all of that stuff, so let’s see.”
The left-hander signed off by saying, “When we got to know of the first Test, against England, the whole team was really excited. We all were looking forward (to it). The last Test match I was part of was in 2014, so it’s been quite a long time; we haven’t gone out in whites, so that excitement of playing a Test match (after nearly seven years) was on another level.”
(With PTI Inputs)
