Shree Charani’s remarkable rise in international cricket reached another milestone on Friday.
As the left-arm spinner made her Test debut for India in the historic women’s Test against England at Lord’s. Fresh off a sensational Women’s T20 World Cup campaign, the 21-year-old received her maiden Test cap from vice-captain Smriti Mandhana at the Home of Cricket.
The occasion was historic beyond Charani’s debut, with Lord’s hosting its first-ever women’s Test match, 50 years after staging its first women’s international fixture.
T20 World Cup hero earns Test call-up
Charani’s inclusion comes as a reward for her outstanding performances in the Women’s T20 World Cup, where she emerged as India’s leading wicket-taker with 14 wickets in five matches. Her tally is the highest ever by an Indian in a single edition of the tournament, surpassing Poonam Yadav’s previous record of 10 wickets from the 2020 campaign.
The left-arm spinner finished second on the all-time list for most wickets in a Women’s T20 World Cup edition, behind New Zealand captain Amelia Kerr’s 15 wickets in 2024. Her stellar run also propelled her to the No. 1 spot in the ICC Women’s T20I bowling rankings.
India also welcomed back wicketkeeper-batter Yastika Bhatia, who returned to the Test side after missing the team’s previous two red-ball fixtures against South Africa and Australia.
England captain Nat Sciver-Brunt won the toss and opted to bowl first. The hosts handed maiden Test caps to Alice Capsey and Mady Villiers.
Playing XIs
India Women: Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Yastika Bhatia, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (wk), Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Sayali Satghare, Shree Charani, Kranti Gaud.
England Women: Tammy Beaumont, Maia Bouchier, Heather Knight, Nat Sciver-Brunt (c), Alice Capsey, Amy Jones (wk), Mady Villiers, Sophie Ecclestone, Issy Wong, Lauren Bell, Lauren Filer.
Comments are closed.