India’s most popular female cricketer right now, Smriti Mandhana was pleasantly surprised by BCCI’s announcement of the maiden day-night Test for the Women’s national team on their Australia tour. She believes that it is like something she would have never imagined in her playing career.
"Frankly, when I used to watch day-night Tests of men, I actually never felt that I will be able to experience this moment - it's wrong to say 'I' at the moment - that the Indian team will be able to experience the moment," Mandhana was quoted as saying by Espncricinfo. "So, when it got declared, I was like, 'Oh, wow. That's going to be crazy,'" added the exciting left-hander.
The match between India Women and Australia is scheduled to take place between September 30 to October 3 at the WACA Ground in Perth. But before that, the Indian Women’s team has England to deal with when they begin their muli format tour with the one-off Tests at Bristol. The four-day match will begin on June 16.
"When we got to know of the first Test, against England, the whole team was really excited," said the 24-year-old. The opening batter then went on to share how eagerly the whole team and herself are looking forward to playing only their third Test in seven years.
"We all were looking forward [to it]. The last Test match I was part of was in 2014, so it's been quite a long time, we haven't gone out in whites, so that excitement of playing a Test match [after nearly seven years] was on another level," Mandhana said.
Having represented India in 54 WODIs, two Tests and 78 WT20Is, Mandhana who made her debut as a 17-year-old in 2013 has come a long way, but could still recount her first memories of being excited like a child while playing her first day-night game.
"Now that we are going to play a day-night [Test] match, [we have] lots of things to work on but [there's a] lot of excitement…excitement about being part of a day-night Test match, and that too in Australia, against Australia; it's always a good challenge. It's going to be a great moment for the Indian women's cricket team," concluded the Mumbai born.