Smriti Mandhana becomes 1st Indian woman centurion in Pink-ball Test
Magnificent Mandhana falls after maiden Test ton, India 276/5 against Australia
Gold Coast, Oct 1: Flamboyant opener Smriti Mandhana shattered a few records en route to slamming a magnificent maiden Test century as India progressed to 276/5 in the second day's opening session of the day/night match against Australia here on Friday.
The 25-year-old Mandhana became the first Indian woman to hit a century in day-night Tests and also the first from the country to reach three figures in the game's traditional format on the Australian soil.
Mandhana made 127 off 216 balls with the help of 22 boundaries and a six at the Carrara Oval, and added an Indian record of 102 runs in Australia for the second wicket with Punam Raut (36), continuing the good work after putting on 93 with Shafali Verma on a rain-marred opening day.
She brought her century with a short-arm pull shot off Ellysse Perry in the 52nd over.
Mandhana wouldn't have added to her overnight score of 80 in the second over of Day 2 but Perry overstepped. Replays showed that the catch too might have been debatable.
The India opener, however, overcame the early jitters and went about her business in a professional manner while playing some lovely shots, including a magnificent straight drive off Annabel Sutherland.
She looked set for more but was caught at short mid-off off the bowling Ash Gardner, after playing an uppish drive.
Raut walked off after a caught behind appeal despite the umpire not entertaining Alyssa Healy and Meg Lanning's loud shouts.
Brief scores:
India 1st innings: 276/5 in 101.5 overs (Smriti Mandhana 127; Sophie Molineux 2/28).
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Mohsin's fifer helps LSG restrict KKR to 155/7 despite Rinku's 83
Lucknow (PTI): Lucknow Super Giants pacer Mohsin Khan added another sordid chapter to Kolkata Knight Riders' batting woes, taking five wickets to restrict the three-time champions to a modest 155 for seven in their IPL match here on Sunday.
Mohsin’s 5 for 23, a personal best for the left-arm pacer in this format, tore apart an already struggling KKR batting unit, as he snaffled the cream wickets of Ajinkya Rahane, Tim Seifert, Cameron Green, Rovman Powell and Anukul Roy.
Rinku Singh (83 not out, 51 balls) made a well-paced fifty and punished Mohammed Shami in the 19th over for 6, 4, 4 and the smoked four sixes in a row against spinner Digvesh Rathi as KKR made 43 runs in the last two overs to go past the 150-run mark.
But his fifty remained a lone act, as Mohsin firmly stood in the limelight.
His bowling ethos were rooted in simple tactics — bang the ball into the black soil pitch to gain bounce or use cutters at various pace to keep the batters guessing.
Mohsin, who started the night with a wicket maiden, showed his variety across two dismissals.
He followed Rahane with a fuller ball as the batter tried to go over the covers, but the ball’s trajectory forced the KKR skipper to just slice the ball up for a simple catch for Aiden Markram.
The 27-year-old stayed calm when Green, who looked comfortable out there while smashing George Linde for two successive sixes, slammed him for a huge maximum.
Two balls later, Mohsin dug one short, challenging Green (34) to go for the pull and the Australian all-rounder took the bait.
The into-the-body angle worked again as Green could only sky the ball to wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant.
Green’s ouster also ended a fifth wicket alliance worth 42 with Rinku Singh.
Bizarre dismissal of Raghuvanshi
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If the existing turmoil was not enough, KKR had to bear the dejection of seeing Angkrish Raghuvanshi getting dismissed obstructing the field.
On the final ball of the fifth over from Prince Yadav, Raghuvanshi nudged one towards mid-on and set off for a single, only to be rejected by Green.
Raghuvanshi put in a dive to save himself but he came in the line of the throw from Shami.
Subsequently, third umpire Rohit Pandit accepted LSG’s appeal and decided that the batter’s turning radius was more than required, eventually resulting in the batter’s dismissal in a rare manner.
