Prateek Tanmay
India women are in the touching distance of a famous win at Lord’s in their first-ever appearance at the iconic venue. Going into the final day on Monday, Harmanpreet Kaur’s team is four wickets way from beating England in the one-off Test as the bowlers continued their impressive run after another strong batting effort.
India’s batters built relentlessly on the platform laid by their bowlers in the second innings, piling up 371 before finally ending England’s misery by declaring. Yastika Bhatia was the centrepiece, becoming only the sixth Indian woman to score a Test century overseas. That innings, though, arrived with a bit of luck. Lauren Bell clipped the stumps with the very first delivery of the day, but the bails were adamant not to be uprooted.
While there was not much wrong about that delivery, there was barely anything right about the one which got her Smriti Mandhana’s wicket in the next over. Straying down the leg side, it found an edge and Amy Jones behind the stumps. One wicket invited another. Four overs later, Bell produced an in-swinging beauty that pierced through Jemimah Rodrigues’ drive.
Starting the day on a positive note ✅
A well-composed 2⃣nd Test half-century for Yastika Bhatia 👏
Updates ▶️ #TeamIndia | #ENGvIND | @YastikaBhatia pic.twitter.com/zLsxqKEja1
— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) July 12, 2026
It was then Sophie Ecclestone’s time to dictate the proceedings. Harmanpreet became her first victim of the day, trapped leg before wicket. Before she could add another to her tally, however, Bhatia recorded her maiden Test hundred. It took her 145 deliveries to achieve the feat, and it took India 24 years to have a female Test centurion on English soil. In 2002, batting great Mithali Raj had scored 214 at Taunton, which was the then highest individual score in women’s Test cricket.
Ecclestone broke the 52-run fifth-wicket stand in the immediate next over after Bhatia’s century, when Deepti Sharma misjudged the flight of the ball in her attempt to sweep it to the ropes. Bhatia, meanwhile, had shown remarkable restraint throughout her knock. Her first 157 deliveries did not yield a single six. On the 158th, she tried to change it in search of quick runs. The 25-year-old southpaw danced down the track against Ecclestone and offered a swing, but the ball achieved more vertical elevation than horizontal. Mady Villiers completed the catch at mid-off.
Those entrusted with engraving names on the Lord’s honours boards earned their wages on Sunday, as after Bhatia, the latest addition was Ecclestone, whose peach left Sneh Rana completely bamboozled and earned her a fourth Test fifer.
Lord’s rises to applaud a special performance 🙌👏
Yastika Bhatia walks back after a historic 1️⃣1️⃣3️⃣(158) 💯
Updates ▶️ #TeamIndia | #ENGvIND | @YastikaBhatia pic.twitter.com/duNLbKE6NC
— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) July 12, 2026
Being the last of the recognised batters, Richa Ghosh threw caution to the wind. Draping an invisible blue cape around her all-whites, she unleashed her white-ball version, scoring an unbeaten 52-ball 50, hitting eight boundaries in the process. By the time Kaur called curtains on the onslaught, India had scored 341/7, with their lead being 456 runs.
England required a miracle to even survive. Kranti Gaud had other ideas.
With the very first ball of the innings, she uprooted Tammy Beaumont’s stumps in what was the final innings of an outstanding international career. For a batter who has amassed 7,325 international runs, it was an anti-climactic farewell, but Beaumont’s legacy will forever rest on the 14 centuries and 36 fifties, and not on this isolated duck.
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Sayali Satghare’s in-swinger opened Maia Bouchier’s defence all ends up in the next over. Then came Sneh Rana, who needed only three deliveries to bowl Nat Sciver-Brunt.
Another farewell followed soon after.
Heather Knight inside-edged a Gaud inswinger onto her pads before Ghosh gathered safely at short leg. She departed for just 13, an insignificant number beside 320 — the number of times Knight had represented her nation in international cricket, more than anyone in England’s history.
Indian bowlers were unrelenting. Satghare found the stumps again, sending Alice Capsey back on this occasion. At the time, with England reeling at 59/5, it seemed a fourth day would not be necessary. Amy James and Mady Villiers ensured the Test would enter the final day.
The pair constructed a 67-run partnership, before the resilience was finally broken by Rana. Ghosh, however, deserves as much credit for the dismissal as the bowler, for taking a stunning catch. The day ended with England’s score reading 130/6. India’s women need four wickets to earn their third Test win in England, and perhaps, the most special of all time.
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Brief scores: India 285 & 341/7 decl (Yastika Bhatia 113; Sophie Ecclestone 5/118) vs England 170 & 130/6 (Amy Jones 52 batting; Sayali Satghare 2/19).
