CHENNAI: For the past few days, the Indian women's team has been having their training sessions in full whites rather than in usual training gear. The idea, suggested by coach Ramesh Powar, is meant to ensure that they don't feel overawed when they don the whites and step onto the field in Bristol on Wednesday for their one-off Test against England. It illustrates how rare and alien a Test match is for the women's team.
As has been well-documented of late, Mithali & Co are playing their first Test in seven years. Their last outing in the Test format came against South Africa in Mysuru in November 2014 – which India won convincingly – but it is their victory against England in Wormsley in August that year that they can take a lot of heart from. Seven members of the playing XI from that Test are part of this squad.
"There were 4-5 training sessions where we all trained in the whites so that it doesn't feel alien for the girls when they enter the ground. The coach also got the seniors to talk to the youngsters about the format and about the experience of the 2014 Test. These things have helped us collectively to prepare for the Test," Mithali told reporters during the pre-match interaction on Tuesday.
While Mithali is one of the more experienced members in the set-up, the fact that she herself is only going to be playing her 11th Test since making her debut in 2002 highlights their predicament. It is not an ideal situation, as is the fact that the women will be playing on a used pitch since a T20 Blast game was held there last week.
One of the big challenges for the women will be adjusting to the red ball, which tends to move a lot more and a lot longer than the white ball.
"We obviously face the white ball far more than the red ball. It comes down to the mindset. Over the last week, we have tried to get in as many sessions as we can for both the batters and bowlers to face the red ball and get used to the movement. At the end of the day, what matters is how disciplined you can be in your mindset. It would be wrong to say that it won't be challenging," she said.
With another Test against Australia in Australia scheduled later this year -– their first day-night Test -– the 38-year-old is hoping that this can be the beginning of a fruitful phase for women's cricket.
"This Test and the pink-ball Test in Australia is just the beginning of us having all three formats in a bilateral series. That will clearly help the overall standard of women's cricket. Maybe in the coming years, it could lead to a World Test Championship for women too. Let's hope that we continue to have bilateral series' where all three formats are there," she added.
All four days of the Test, against a strong England side led by Heather Knight, will be televised in India unlike the 2014 Test between these two teams. If they can emulate their performance from seven years ago and pull off another win, it will certainly help the women make a stronger case for Test cricket to become a permanent fixture in their calendar.
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