From playing an ODI match after 16 months to the first test after 2014, India’s Women Cricket team had a hectic yet fantastic 2021. A number of records were broken, some exceptional performances were witnessed while the women in blue made the cricketing world amazed.
As we head towards a new year, let’s take a look at India’s Women Cricket journey of 2021:
March 7: 1st ODI, India v South Africa, Lucknow
§ Indian team played ODI after 16 months
March 14: 4th ODI, India v South Africa, Lucknow
§ Captain Mithali Raj crossed 7000 ODI runs mark, leading the highest run-scorer list of WODI with pride.
June 16-19: One-off test, India v England, Bristol
§ Indian women played a test for the first time since 2014. They managed to end the match which almost looked like a victory to the host England after a follow-on was enforced on the visitors, in a draw.
§ Young Shafali Verma who was playing her first test was adjudged as the player of the match after she scored 96 in the first innings and 63 in the second.
17-year-old Shafali Verma playing just her debut Test Match scored 159 Runs in 2 Innings.
She is the Player of the Match and rightly so.
What a start to her incredible career. #ENGvIND #ENGWvINDW pic.twitter.com/2BKmRER64E
D— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) June 19, 2021
§ Shafali along with Smriti Mandhana who made 78, recorded 167 runs stand for the first wicket in the first innings while Shafali was joined by Deepti who made 54 in the second innings and took 3 wickets in England’s innings.
§ When the match was going away from them, Sneh Rana and Taniya Bhatia’s unbeaten 80 and 44 respectively helped in a draw. Rana also took 4 wickets with the ball.
July 3: 3rd ODI, India v England, Worcester
§ Captain Mithali Raj became the leading run-scorer of women’s international cricket
July 9: 1st T20I, India v England, Northampton:
§ Harleen Deol dazzled everyone with her sensational catch. When she knew she was losing balance, she threw the ball in the air, jumped up the boundary rope, came back, and dived forward to take one of the best catches of women’s cricket.
Out of 10, how much would you rate this epic catch by Harleen Deol? ❤️🇮🇳#ENGvIND #HarleenDeol pic.twitter.com/E07ptipieP
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) July 9, 2021
July 21- August 21: The Hundred
§ 5 women- Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur, and Deepti Sharma were a part of the inaugural edition of the shortest competition of cricket.
§ Jemimah finished as the second-highest run-scorer (Could have finished at the top but had to return due to some safety measures which were to be taken ahead of Australia’s tour)
September 26: 3rd ODI, India v Australia, Mackay
§ The women in blue ended Australia’s 26 ODI winning streak. A streak that was started by them was ended by them.
September 30-October 3: One-off Pink Ball test, India v Australia, Queensland
§ The first pink ball test for Indian women and a test against Australia after 15 years.
With very little Pink Ball practice, hardly any time after the ODIs, Team India’s performance on this tour has been outstanding.
Kudos to each and every member (including the support staff) involved. #AUSvIND #PinkBallTest @M_Raj03 @JhulanG10 pic.twitter.com/pi1ybKq6pD
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) October 3, 2021
§ Smriti Mandhana smashed the first pink ball test century by an Indian woman and recorded the highest individual test score (127) on Australian soil by a woman.
October 9: 2nd T20I, India v Australia, Queensland
§ Shikha Pandey stunned everyone with her magical delivery that was given the title of ‘Ball of the Century’ by fans across the globe and got appreciation from some big names of the sport as well.
October 14- 27 November: 2021-22 Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL)
§ A record 8 Indian women were signed- Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigue, Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh, Poonam Yadav, and Radha Yadav
§ Harmanpreet became the first Indian and only the third overseas player to win Player of the Tournament
§ Smriti Mandhana smashed the first WBBL century by an Indian and recorded the equal highest individual score in the history of WBBL.
Super Century from Smriti Mandhana – her First WBBL Century in just 57 Balls.
She scored an unbeaten 114 Runs in just 64 balls but couldn’t take her side home as Thunders lost by just 4 Runs. #SmritiMandhana pic.twitter.com/Li81BrBFE3
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) November 17, 2021
Series Played by India Women in 2021
| Team | Date | Host | Matches Won by India | Series Result | ||
| ODI | T20I | Test | ||||
| South Africa | 7th – 23rd March | India | 1/5 | 1/3 | – | SA won |
| England | 16th June -14th July | England | 1/3 | 1/3 | Draw | Eng won |
| Australia | 21st September – 10th October | Australia | 1/3 | 0/3
(1 was No Result) |
Draw | Aus won |
Though these women weren’t able to win any series this year, they were definitely able to impress many with their outstanding performances and go on to the ICC Women’s World Cup next year as one of the favourites.
Wishing Indian Women Cricket Team GOOD LUCK!!
Loves all things female cricket