Australia dig in but India are in good position to win the women's Test

Harmanpreet Kaur's golden arm set her India team up well to secure their maiden Test win over Australia in the one-day stumps at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Australia cruised to 233 for five on Saturday for the first Test between the two nations in India since 1984, a precarious 46-run lead.

The impressive Tahlia McGrath (73) anchored Australia's second innings fightback, sharing an emphatic 66-run partnership with Ellyse Perry (45) and skipper Alyssa Healy (32), with India skipper Harmanpreet striking twice in the third innings. The session ended with two wickets for 23 runs.
Australia's coach, Shelly Nitschke, said, "We had a pretty big deficit to cover so we're not where we want to be but I thought our batting today was more than we wanted it to be." “Tahlia McGrath was outstanding in both innings and applied herself well. If we get 150-200 [ahead], we're fine in this game. We know how well they bat in their home conditions and we have to bowl really well if we can put a target on the board."

Shortly before tea, Perry saw off-spinner Sneesh Rana with a fine touch before tickling it to wicketkeeper Yastika Bhatia on the leg side. McGrath, who made 50 off 56 balls in Australia's first innings 219, completed the pair of half-centuries with a more measured knock from the new vice-captain in the second dig.

McGrath survived two lbw decisions - twice given out, both overturned on review - the second off Harmanpreet's first delivery of the match. Three balls later, he departs, driving the monster bowler inside his stumps. Healy, in his first match as permanent captain, reined in his natural attacking instincts but his aggression was lacking.

The rival captains clashed briefly when Healy charged the ball back to Harmanpreet, who aggressively chased the Australian. Healy, in an attempt to defend himself, used his bat to deflect the throw and the ball went to the boundary.

Harmanpreet argued for blocking the field but the umpires instead awarded Healy with a four. India got the last laugh when Healy was dismissed lbw on the very next ball after missing a sweep attempt.

Annabelle Sutherland (12 not out) survived two confident lbw shouts before scoring – stuck plumb but surviving when India decided not to review, before later overturning the dismissal – and resumed on day four with Ash Gardner (seven). will be

Before McGrath and Perry joined forces, Australia lost both their openers in uncharacteristic fashion. A sleeping Beth Mooney (37) showed a complete lack of awareness, wandering out of her crease and being run out by debutant Richa Ghosh at casual point, before Phoebe Lichfield (18) was bowled trying to reverse-sweep Rana.

Earlier, the visitors finally broke a disappointing 122-run stand - India's highest for the eighth wicket - with the hosts posting 406 between Deepti Sharma (78) and Pooja Bhastrakar (47), their highest total against Australia.