Sneh Rana created history in the one-off Test against the Proteas by claiming a 10-wicket haul. India declared their first innings at 603/6 and the following day, Rana dismissed the Proteas skipper, Laura Wolvaardt, early, trapping her in front of the stumps before dismissing her fellow opener, Anneke Bosch, who was well settled on 39. Her third wicket came in the form of Delmi Tucker, who was dismissed for a low score.
But it was on day three in the first hour that Rana took five wickets, resulting in a collapse of the Proteas from 236/4 to 266 all-out. Her first scalp on day three was the Proteas’ experienced batter Marizanne Kapp, who was bowled out for 74. After claiming eight wickets in the first innings, Rana became the second Indian to pick up eight wickets in an innings, following Neetu David, who took 8/77 against England in 1995. Rana also became the third woman overall to achieve this feat.
By picking up two wickets in the second innings against the Proteas, Rana became the second Indian to register a ten-wicket match haul in women’s Tests, the first being Jhulan Goswami, who did it in 2006 against England at Taunton. South Africa, who were enforced a follow-on, trailed by 337 runs going into their second innings. In the second session of day three, Rana went wicketless as Luus and Wolvaardt built a 190-run partnership and took control.
Despite creating many chances, the Indian fielding was ordinary, with many missed opportunities. It was on day four when Rana struck her first wicket in the form of Delmi Tucker, dismissing her in both innings. She later struck out the Proteas wicketkeeper-batter for 15. After taking her 10th wicket of the match, Rana surpassed Deepti Sharma who took 9/39 against England at the DY Patil Stadium in December 2023. Sneh Rana finished with figures of 10 wickets for 188 runs bowling a total of 65.3 overs which included 16 maiden overs in the whole test match.
2nd Indian to take 10-fer in a W-TEST match:
Jhulan Goswami 10/78 vs England, Taunton 2006
Sneh Rana 10/178* vs South Africa, Chennai 2024
Deepti Sharma 9/39 vs England, DY Patil 2023
Harmanpreet Kaur 9/85 vs South Africa, Mysore 2014
Neetu David 9/90 vs England, Jamshedpur 1995
