Tahlia McGrath: Praising the Indian bowlers for their brilliant performance on the opening day of the only Test of the multi-format series on Thursday, Tahlia McGrath said the Australian bowlers missed a trick or two as India wrested the initiative with a strong opening stand.McGrath, who struck a counter-attacking 56-ball 50 and along with opener Beth Mooney added 80 runs for the third wicket, said the Australian batters were not able to forge enough partnerships and set up a big score.
The Indian bowlers led by Pooja Vastrakar (4-53) and Sneh Rana (3-56) dominated the Australian batters as they bundled out the visitors for 219 at the Wankhede Stadium before the openers Ssmriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma dug another nail in the coffin by raising 90 runs for the opening wicket. Though Shafali was out for 40, India were on top at 98/1 at stumps, 121 runs behind Australia with nine wickets in hand.
“India got the momentum at the moment with a really good start with the bat. We just missed bowling slightly full with our lengths and gave a little bit too much width. And you can’t do that on this pitch. You will get punished. In saying that though, tomorrow is a new day and you can see how quickly a game can turn. So, we need to be a little bit more disciplined with our plans and hopefully come out fighting,” Tahlia McGrath said in the post-match press conference.
McGrath gave credit to the Indian bowlers for taking the game by the scruff of its neck and turning things in India’s favour. The wicket had a bit of grass in the middle and was expected to help the batters once they got in. However, the Indian bowlers used the conditions well and kept the Australian batters under pressure all through the innings.
“I thought early on India bowled really well and there was a little bit of seam movement. Anything over-pitched, you could just put your hands through. So early on, I found the wicket. quite nice to bat on. But then as soon as the spin came on, it became quite tricky. And look as I said India bowled really well. They kept their plans really simple and attacked the stumps,” said McGrath, the all-rounder who has taken over as the Australian Women’s team’s vice-captain from this series.
What made things difficult for the Australian batters was the low bounce along with the sharp turn as the spinners came into the attack.
“Yeah, it was keeping a bit low. It was just the odd one that would keep quite low. So the plan was to get forward as much as possible. You see it’s short and instinct takes over. You just rock back. But, yeah, some balls were keeping extremely low. So, it was about trying to play as straight as possible. And then, there was a lot of just natural variation in that pitch. And then the ball shooting low was the most dangerous one out there for us today,” she said.
McGrath was disappointed at missing out on a big score on this wicket.
“It was hard to score at times, a little bit disappointed. I couldn’t go on with it and get a big partnership with Mooney and a big score myself. But that’s cricket. And there’s still hopefully three days of cricket to go,” she added.
