Batting wasn’t that hard if you applied yourself: Smriti

After crushing England in the one-off Test earlier, all eyes were pinned on the Indian women's team to prove themselves against Australian women. It was exactly that from the Indian women’s team, who finally broke the jinx with a Test win over Australia after previous unsuccessful attempts. 

India’s opener Smriti Mandhana insisted that batting wasn’t that hard on the pitch, adding that it required the batters to ‘apply themselves’. Mandhana was instrumental in the win, scoring a crucial 74 in the first dig before scoring 38 crucial runs in the run-chase. 

“Definitely it wasn't that tough. We thought it was rank turner when we saw the pitch, but if you applied yourself and showed patience, think batting wasn't that hard. Credit to all the batters,” Smriti said in the post-match presentation. 

On the other hand, two of India’s silent heroes of the clash - Renuka Singh and Pooja Vastrakar - spoke about the discussion with the bowling coach Troy Cooley. 

"Very happy, first win against Australia. History has been created, very happy. [On batting] There is a lot of focus on my batting, but just wanted that my bowling doesn't come yesterday so just wanted to bat and bat.," Vastrakar said. 

“He just asked us to be patient and the wickets will come. The celebrations are a secret, won't reveal,” said Renuka.

Jemimah Rodrigues, who looked comfortable across both the innings stated that there wasn’t anything in the world like winning back-to-back Tests. 

“I think Test cricket is something I always wanted to play. Wearing the blue was the obvious dream, we did not play a lot of Test cricket then, but just wearing these whites was a dream. Nothing like getting two back to back fifties and getting two Test wins,” she said.

“Christmas has come early. For me, even before the domestic season started, I wanted to be consistent. That was the goal and I keep working hard. I wanted to follow my process. When you are consistent there, the results will follow. I didn't have a great series last time around. But I had a lot of good scores coming in this time around so was confident,” she added.