A 17-year-old playing the longer format, with a red ball and in England for the first time. Shafali Verma was unfazed. A 27-year-old maki...
- A 17-year-old playing the longer format, with a red ball and in England for the first time. Shafali Verma was unfazed.
- A 27-year-old making an international comeback after five years of domestic cricket toil. Sneh Rana was resilient.
- A 23-year-old who is already a veteran having debuted in 2014. Deepti Sharma was steely.
- A 23-year-old who was recently dropped and hasn’t settled in any batting position. Taniya Bhatia was a revelation.
These four had one thing in common: They were making Test debuts and each of them played a crucial role in India’s remarkable, hard-fought draw in the one-off Test against England in Bristol after being made to follow on.
Verma provided a sensational spark at the top order with twin fifties that showed off her new batting nuance. Rana and Bhatia stitched an improbable century-stand for the ninth wicket while following on. Sharma was the quietly determined bridge between the top-order show and lower-order resistance.
If India’s gritty draw was a battle, it was fought and won by the inexperienced infantry and not the military veterans. Win is not an accurate term here. But Test cricket is perhaps the only game that recognises that a draw-that-prevents-defeat can be as good as a victory. The final-day finishes where one team survives seemingly...
