Smriti Mandhana shows her excitement for India’s first-ever Day-Night Test against Australia

Smriti Mandhana shows her excitement for India’s first-ever Day-Night Test against Australia

Smriti Mandhana

Smriti Mandhana has revealed that she had never expected about playing a day-night Test until the declaration of India Women’s first-ever pink-ball Test, which will take place later this year against Australia. Mandhana says that she never imagined the Indian women’s team would have the opportunity to play a day/night Test match.

The Day-Night Pink Ball Test against Australia, which is part of a multi seven-match tour, is set to take place at the WACA Ground in Perth from September 30 to October 3.

“Frankly, when I used to watch day-night Tests of men, I actually never felt that I would be able to experience this moment – it is wrong to say “I” at the moment – that the Indian team will be able to experience the moment. So, when it got declared, I was like – Oh, wow. That’s going to be crazy,” said Smriti Mandhana as quoted by Espncricinfo.

“I remember playing my first day-night one-day or T20 match. I was pretty excited, like a small kid. I was like, Wow, we’ll be able to play a day-night match and all of that. Now that we are going to play a day-night match, we have lots of things to work on but there is a lot of excitement about being part of a day-night Test match, and that too in Australia, against Australia; it is always a good challenge. It’s going to be a great moment for the Indian women’s cricket team,” added Smriti Mandhana.

Smriti Mandhana remains focused on Test against England

Indian Women's Cricket Team
Indian Women’s Cricket Team

The pink-ball match will be India‘s first four-day match against Australia since 2006, and their second Test match in the year, following a Test match against England at Bristol in June.

When asked if the lack of familiarity with the pink ball was a concern for India’s preparations for the upcoming tour to Australia, Mandhana said the focus right now was on the Test against England, which begins on June 16.

“It’s too early at the moment. It’s just going to be a process. You have to get adapted to it. It’s too early for us to start the pink-ball preparations because the match is three-four months later. At the moment it’s more about the England Test match, the Dukes ball, and all of that stuff, so let’s see,” said Smriti Mandhana.

Mandhana has featured in two Tests as of now, the first against England in August 2014 and the second against South Africa in the following year. Both matches were won by India – by six wickets and 34 runs, respectively. She has scored 81 runs combined in the two matches including one half-century.

 Mandhana will play his first Test match in almost six years against England in the forthcoming encounter.

“When we got to know of the first Test, against England, the whole team was really excited. We all were looking forward to it. The last Test match I was part of was in 2014, so it’s been quite a long time, we haven’t gone out in whites, so that excitement of playing a Test match after nearly seven years was on another level,” said Smriti Mandhana.

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