When Harmanpreet Kaur leads India down the pavilion steps on Friday morning, her side will be part of the first women’s Test ever staged at Lord’s. The occasion belongs to both teams, but India arrive with the more complicated build-up: a hole at No. 3, a World Cup wound still fresh, and a coach asking his players to think about none of it.
India’s preparation took a late hit when top-order batter Pratika Rawal was ruled out of the one-off Test with a knee injury. ESPNcricinfo reported that Rawal cut her knee while fielding during last week’s second one-day match against England A in Taunton, with head coach Amol Muzumdar confirming the wound required stitches. Priya Punia has been drafted in as her replacement and is available for selection immediately, the ICC confirmed, days after our guide to the first women’s Test at Lord’s set the scene for the match itself.
Who takes the No. 3 spot?
Rawal occupied No. 3 in India’s most recent Test, the heavy defeat to Australia in Perth in March, and her second-innings half-century there was one of the few bright notes. According to ESPNcricinfo, her replacement will likely come from a three-way race between Punia, Harleen Deol and Yastika Bhatia.
Punia’s case is form. Uncapped in Test cricket, she struck two half-centuries in the recent A series against England A, and Muzumdar’s decision to name her rather than promote from within suggests the management see her as more than cover. Deol and Bhatia are the options already inside the squad. Whoever gets the nod inherits the hardest job in the order: facing a fresh ball at a ground where no woman has ever batted in a Test.
Can India put the T20 World Cup behind them?
India left the T20 World Cup at the group stage, beaten by South Africa and Australia — a second successive early exit after 2024, and one that turned India’s World Cup exit into an uncomfortable inquest. Muzumdar’s response has been to draw a line. “What is gone, we cannot change it. We have discussed it within the squad. All we need to do is look forward and prepare the best we can for the event ahead,” he said in comments carried by ESPNcricinfo. “Just leave aside the disappointment and get into the present.”
The schedule has helped. ESPNcricinfo reported that the squad had five days off after the World Cup before a five-day red-ball camp at Wormsley — a proper reset rather than a scramble. Muzumdar also framed the match as bigger than one result, saying “the more we do it, the more people turn up, the more popular the women’s game becomes, the better it is for everyone.”
Why history is on India’s side
For all the disruption, the record book reads well for the visitors. Sky Sports notes that India are unbeaten in nine Tests on British soil, with two wins and seven draws, and that England’s only Test victory over India in fifteen attempts came back in 1995. The last meeting in England, in 2021, ended with Sneh Rana batting out a draw with an unbeaten 80 — and Rana is in this squad too. England, meanwhile, are treating the week as part of Nat Sciver-Brunt’s historic Lord’s reset after their T20 World Cup final defeat.
The verdict
More than 30,000 tickets have been sold across the four days, a record for a women’s Test in the UK, and the stage is unmistakably England’s home. But India have the fresher red-ball habits, the better record in this country and, in Punia, a debutant with nothing to lose. If the top three settles quickly, the tourists are well placed to keep their unbeaten run in England alive — and spoil the party.
