Indian women’s team will be returning to Test cricket after a huge gap of 2401 days (almost 7 years) when they take on Heather Knight’s England in a one-off Test in the County Ground in Bristol. India women last played a Test against South Africa women in November 2014 at home and they won that encounter by an innings and 34 runs. Captain Mithali Raj will be one of the 7 players from the current squad who played the game against South Africa in Mysore.

India, in fact, has played only 3 Tests since 2006 but they have pulled off a win in all the games, including their last Test in England in 2014. In 13 Tests played between England and India and the latter have a positive head-to-head record – wins 2, defeat 1 and 10 draws. In fact, England has never beaten India at home. England’s only win over India in a Test came in Jamshedpur in 1995.

💬💬 They should just enjoy playing this format.

Ahead of the Test against England, #TeamIndia captain @M_Raj03 has a message for the debutants 👍👍 #ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/KQTRA70mVn

— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) June 15, 2021

England also doesn’t have a lot of recent experience of playing Test matches as their last Test came in 2019 and they have played only 3 Tests — all against Australia as part of multi-format Ashes series — since meeting India in 2014.

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While history favors Mithali Raj’s side, the women’s team has had to deal with a lack of match practice ahead of the one-off Test. Captain Mithali, opener Smriti Mandhana, Punam Raut, Harmanpreet will be expected to guide the rest of the batting unit. It will be interesting to see if 17-year-old attacking batter Shafali Verma gets a spot on the Test team after having received her maiden Test call-up.

💬💬It was a memorable win for us. @ImHarmanpreet relives #TeamIndia's Test win against England in 2014. 👏👏 pic.twitter.com/IE0uhJC79x

— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) June 14, 2021

Talking about the same, Harmanpreet Kaur said, “All of us are trying to create a very nice situation for her so that she doesn’t feel the pressure and enjoys her cricket. She was looking great in the nets, and I hope, if she gets a chance to play, she will do better.”

Apart from being the first of the 2 Tests that Indian women will play this year (the other being their first-ever pink-ball Test in Australia in September-October), the one-off Test in Bristol will also be part of the multi-format, points-based bilateral series much like the women’s Ashes. India will be playing 3 ODIs and as many T20Is after the Test series. A win in the Test match will give them 4 points while a win in the limited-overs series will carry 2 points per match.

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Spotlight is also on the County Ground pitch in Bristol as the England and Wales Cricket Board apologized on Tuesday for not being able to provide a fresh pitch as 37 overs were bowled on it last Friday during a T20 Blast game.