Mysuru: Thirush Kamini fell agonisingly short of a double-hundred, but her stellar innings was enough to cement India Women’s dominance over South Africa Women by the end of the second day’s play in the one-off Test between the sides on Monday (November 17).
Kamini, overnight on 100, continued to put the South African bowlers to the sword and added 92 to her tally before edging one from Yolani Fourie, the offspinner, to Trisha Chetty behind the stumps.
Six runs after Kamini’s innings came to an end, Mithali Raj, the skipper, declared with the score on 400 for 6 from 148.4 overs at the Gangotri Glades Cricket ground in Mysore.
South Africa were struggling at 85 for 3 at stumps after Rajeshwari Gaikwad scalped a couple of wickets and Poonam Yadav took the crucial wicket of Nadine Moodley, the South African opener, to leave their opponents trailing by 315 runs with two days left in the game.
Mignon du Preez was batting on 28 and Marcia Letsoalo faced 12 deliveries without getting off the mark as the stumps were drawn.
Starting the day at 211 for 1, Kamini and Poonam Raut, overnight 100, took off from where they left on Sunday. Dane van Neikerk finally had Raut stumped by Chetty. Raut faced 355 balls and struck 18 boundaries en route to her 130.
Sunette Loubser, the offspinner, who until then had nothing to show for her efforts, accounted for Raj (37 from 51 balls) and Harmanpreet Kaur (17) before Fourie got rid of Kamini.
Should Kamini have scored eight more runs, she would have become only the second Indian woman after Raj to score a double-hundred and only the seventh to complete the feat. Kamini overtook Sandhya Agarwal, the former India captain, by a couple of runs to register the second-highest Test score by an Indian woman after Raj’s 214 against England in 2002. Sandhya had scored 190 against England in 1986.
Following Kamini’s dismissal, Loubser found her third victim in Jhulan Goswami and India declared their innings.
South Africa began their stint with Moodley and Neikerk looking sturdy. But Niekerk fell for 15 to put some pressure on the visitors. And it only got worse when Gaikwad struck in her very next over by dismissing Marizanne Kapp for nought. South Africa were on 37 for 2 at the time.
Du Preez, the skipper, and Moodley then staged a fightback with a healthy third-wicket 46-run partnership, which threatened to throw a spanner in India’s plans. However, Poonam, the debutant legspinner, dismissed Moodley for a 131-ball 40 to ensure India were back on track.
