India’s women’s team head coach Amol Muzumdar has said that he would be happy to see a World Test Championship (WTC) in the women’s game after his side beat England by 270 runs at Lord’s on Monday. The former right-hander felt that looking at India play Tests in Australia, England and South Africa later in the year did raise those prospects, which could add more context to the matches.
“Obviously, we would be pleased if that happens. I have always maintained that Test cricket is the ultimate format of the game. Our group knows it. Not just the leadership group, but also the players coming through. They also know that Test cricket is something that we really pride ourselves in,” Muzumdar said in the post-match press conference.
“We will be playing three Test matches this year. We played one in Australia, we played now here at Lord’s, and then we’ve got one in South Africa in December. So I think there are three Test matches in a year. Why not? But I’m not the one to judge it or throw light on it. But I think if that happens, great,” he added.
India’s win at Lord’s was built on strong individual performances, but two stood out from the rest. Kranti Gaud showed little to no nerves to claim a match haul of 7/91 and win the Player of the Match as well.
Muzumdar complemented Gaud’s consistency, adding that she stuck to her lines and lengths right through the Test match.
“I think Kranti, talking about her, the control that she showed was superb. She was just right there in the channel, what we call it. Her control on her line and length was superb. She never erred on the shorter side, probably an odd delivery here and there, but she was more or less on the good-length area, which we have been speaking about for a long time. I think she has just got the rewards of sticking to control, the line and length. Good Test-match bowling, I guess,” he said.
The other standout performer with the bat was Yastika Bhatia, whose second-innings 113 helped India set a daunting fourth-innings score for England, which they fell short by a huge margin.
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Muzumdar praised her knock, saying that he was impressed with the way the left-hander had overcome a lot of injuries and put in a performance like the one at Lord’s.
“I think it was a special knock. Needless to say that coming at Lord’s has to be a brilliant one, one which she and all the team members would remember. Not just that, I was really impressed with the way she has come out of the injuries. The last couple of years, she has been tormented with some major injuries, and the way she has defied all those things and stayed true to the game.”
“Also, her shot selection was superb, I felt, and she paced her innings really well. So I guess it was a lovely knock to watch from outside,” he said.
Muzumdar also clarified that if Bhatia was fit, she was the first-choice wicket-keeper in the longest format.
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“It’s been very clear to us. We have been very clear in the group that, in the red-ball format, Yastika, whenever she was available, was our first-choice keeper, and she proved it really nicely.”
“She also took some good catches and, going forward, that will be the case. She made her debut a couple of years back against England at the DY Patil Stadium, and even at that time, she kept wickets. Richa wasn’t there in the team. But unfortunately, we lost Yastika to injury, so that was the reason we switched back,” he said.
