One-off Women's Test: India set mammoth 479-run target against England
What's the story
The Indian women's cricket team has set a massive target of 479 against England in the ongoing one-off Test in Navi Mumbai.
The hosts declared their second innings at their overnight score of 186/6.
Notably, this is the highest target set by any team in Women's Test history.
Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur was India's top-scorer as she made a handy 44.
Here are further details.
Summary
How did the innings pan out?
Smriti Mandhana (33) and Shafali Verma (26) handed India a good start after they decided to not enforce the follow-on despite a mammoth 292-run first-innings lead.
The opening duo added 61 runs. While Yastika Bhatia (9) missed out, Harmanpreet (44), Jemimah Rodrigues (27), Deepti Sharma (20), and Pooja Vastrakar (17) played handy cameos.
Off-spinner Charlotte Dean claimed four wickets.
Stats
Career-best figures for Dean in Tests
Dean was superb for England in the second innings as she finished with 4/68.
This is her maiden four-fer in this format. She removed the likes of Shafali, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti and Sneh Rana.
She, however, missed out on her maiden fifer. Besides her, Sophie Ecclestone also picked up two wickets for the visitors.
Stats
Team India scripts these records
As mentioned, India have set the highest target in Women's Test history. Harmanpreet's team went past Sri Lanka, who asked Pakistan to chase down 410 in the 1998 Colombo Test.
Meanwhile, no team has ever successfully chased down a 200-plus target in Women's Test.
The highest fourth-innings total in Women's Test is England's 245/9 against Australia in January 2022.