Gold Coast: Indian women cricket team's one-off Test against Australia ended in a draw. After India declared their first-innings at 377/8, Australia finished at 241/9 declared, giving the visitors a 136-run lead.
Shafali Verma then hit a fine half-century as India again declared their second innings at 135/3, setting Australia a target of 272 in 32 overs. The hosts scored 36/2 in 15 overs before stumps were drawn for the final time.
Earlier, India's pacers made the new pink-ball talk before an under-pressure Australia made an interesting declaration. Resuming at 143/3, Ellyse Perry (68 not out) and Ashleigh Gardner (51) went on to share an 89-run stand before Indian pacers triggered the batting collapse, reducing Australia to 240/9 from 208 for four.
In what seemed as an attempt to take the game forward, Meg Lanning declared the innings before her team could be dismissed. India ended with a 136-run lead.
After Deepti Sharma got rid of Gardner, debutant Meghna Singh once again troubled the batters with her outswingers as India took four wickets after the new ball was taken in the 81st over.
Pooja Vastrakar and Jhulan Goswami were also on target. Perry, who averages more than 78 in Test cricket, could have been out at least three times, but had luck on her side. While one was a close LBW shout, she was also dropped twice. Meghna took her maiden wicket with a beautiful outswinger to have Annabel Sutherland caught behind. Her second wicket was Sophie Molineux, who was foxed by Meghan's inswinger to the left-hander.
Pooja had Georgia Wareham caught behind before finger-spinner Deepti Sharma took her second wicket of the day with an arm ball to dismiss Darcie Brown.
Indian pacers outbowled their Australian counterparts and were able to hit the corridor of uncertainty on a consistent basis.
Brief Scores:
India Women: 377/8 declared in 145 overs and 106/2 in 30 overs (S Verma 52; A Garder 1/14) drew with Australia Women: 241/9 declared in 96.4 overs (E Perry 68, J Goswami 2/33, P Vastrakar 3/49) and 36 for 2 in 15 overs (M Lanning 17; J Goswami 1/8)
Both teams get two points each
Australia lead the multi-format series with six points heading into the three T20Is while India are on four
Smriti Mandhana now has the highest individual score for India Women in Australia in all the three formats:
Tests 127
ODIs 102
T20Is 66
