Shafali Verma scored her second half-century in her debut Test vs England.
India's Shafali Verma on Friday became the youngest woman, and the fourth overall, to score twin half-centuries in her debut Test match. She reached the milestone against England at Bristol in the ongoing one-off Test. The record was previously held by Australia's Jessica Louise Jonassen, who was 22 when she scored fifties in both innings of her debut Test match. She too achieved the landmark against England. There are only two others apart from Shafali and Jonassen Sri Lanka's Vanessa Bowen and England's Lesley Cooke are the other two batters to have scored two half-centuries in their debut Test.
Earlier in the day, the Indian team were bowled out for 231, giving the hosts a healthy lead of 165 runs.
India resumed the day from their overnight score of 187 for five but the lower-order failed to make a significant contribution as England bowlers stole the show in Bristol.
Also Indian team is supporting the women team continuously from southompton
Support for the women's team from Southampton! ??
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Sophie Ecclestone was the pick of the bowlers for England as she finished the innings with figures of four for 88. England skipper Heather Knight also chipped in with a couple of wickets as she removed Punam Raut and Shikha Pandey.
In the first innings, Shafali had played a scintillating knock of 96 in her first outing in the longest format of the game. Shafali's knock had given India a fine start as she had put on 167 runs with Smriti Mandhana for the opening wicket.
Shafali was unbeaten on 55 in an innings studded with 11 boundaries before the play was halted due to rain.
India were trailing England by 82 runs in the four-day fixture before rain forced the match officials to call of the rest of the day.
Smriti Mandhana on Shefali Verma
India openers Shafali and Mandhana put on 29 runs inside the first five overs, but right on the cusp of lunch break, Mandhana (8) lost her wicket to Katherine Brunt.
"The kind of maturity Shafali has displayed at this stage of her career is good for Indian cricket. It is always amazing to watch the way she plays her shots and I hope she keeps going the same way.
Resuming the day three's play on Friday, India crumbled again as spinner Sophie Ecclestone took three wickets in the first session to help bundled out visitors on 231.
Mandhana admitted that Team India isn't used to batting beyond 50 overs but shied away from pointing towards the lack of experience in Test matches for India' collapsed.
"I think that will just be an excuse to give. But we can consider for sure that we aren't used to batting beyond 50 overs that much," said Mandhana.
"But I wouldn't say I got out because of lack of experience in Test matches because I threw my wicket away in the last session of yesterday," she added.
At stumps, India's score reads 83/1 and the visitors are still trailing by 82 runs. For India, Shafali and Deepti Sharma are unbeaten on 55 and 18 respectively.
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