Kranti Gaud rocks England at Lord’s, becomes first woman on iconic Honours Board
Kranti Gaud scripted history at Lord’s on Saturday, becoming the first woman to earn a place on the iconic Test Honours Board after claiming a maiden five-wicket haul in Test cricket. The 21-year-old seamer finished with exceptional figures of 17-7-37-5 as India bowled England out for 170 in 59.1 overs to take a commanding first-innings lead of 115 runs in the one-off Test.
The feat came in only Gaud’s second Test appearance and on a ground that had brought heartbreak barely a week ago. During India’s unsuccessful Women’s T20 World Cup campaign, Gaud had endured a torrid outing against Australia at Lord’s, conceding 12 runs in the only over she bowled as India crashed out of the tournament.
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This time, however, she returned to the Home of Cricket to produce a spell for the ages. Kranti also became the youngest Indian female pacer to take a 5-wicket haul in Tests.
Lord’s staged its first-ever women’s Test this week, more than 140 years after the venue hosted its first men’s Test, making Gaud’s achievement even more significant. More than 10,000 spectators turned up for the historic occasion as India tightened their grip on the contest.
England resumed on 21 for 1 in reply to India’s 285, built around half-centuries from Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur and Deepti Sharma. But the hosts failed to recover after Gaud ripped through their batting order.
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Gaud struck her first blow late on the opening day when she trapped Tammy Beaumont lbw for two with a delivery that jagged back sharply and stayed low. She then removed Maia Bouchier, inducing an outside edge with a wobble-seam delivery that moved off the slope and carried comfortably to Richa Ghosh behind the stumps.
Her finest delivery of the innings came against Alice Capsey. After repeatedly shaping the ball into the batter, Gaud suddenly found late away movement to beat Capsey’s defence and send the off stump cartwheeling.
Nat Sciver-Brunt and Amy Jones briefly steadied England with a 70-run partnership, but Gaud returned to dismiss the England captain for 44. The right-armer trapped Sciver-Brunt plumb in front with another delivery that nipped back into the batter.
Gaud completed her historic five-for when Lauren Bell edged a full ball to the slips. Sneh Rana failed to hold on at second slip, but Shafali Verma reacted brilliantly at first slip to complete the catch, prompting a standing ovation from the Lord’s crowd.
England’s resistance ended at 170, with Jones top-scoring with 52 and Sciver-Brunt making 44. Gaud’s heroics ensured that her name will forever be etched into Lord’s folklore.
– Ends
