The women’s cricket teams of England and India will play a one-off test match at the Dr. DY Patil Sports Academy in Navi Mumbai starting on December 14.

This women’s Test match, which is scheduled for Mumbai, will be played for the first time since November 2014. In their last Test match, the hosts defeated the South African women by an innings and 34 runs at home in Mysore.

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Remarkably, in the last nine years, India’s women have only participated in two Test matches: one in Bristol, England, in 2021, and another in Carrara, Australia, later that same year. Both games resulted in draws.

India, captained by Harmanpreet Kaur, will attempt to bounce back from their one-sided defeat to England in the just-concluded three-match Twenty20 International series.

Two new faces in the Indian Test team are left-arm spinner Saika Ishaque and left-hander Shubha Satheesh of Karnataka.In addition to Shubha, following their exclusion from the Twenty20 Internationals, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Harleen Deol, Sneh Rana, and Meghna Singh will be included in the Test squad.

Players such as Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh, Renuka Thakur, Titas Sadhu, Vice Captain Smriti Mandhana, and Pooja Vastrakar are also part of the Test team.

This will be India’s first test since Jhulan Goswami’s and Mithali Raj’s retirements last year. A four-day intra-squad match between India and India A took place at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore in November to kick off their preparations for the Test series. At that point, Shubha Satheesh’s batting wowed the selectors. Before the players left, there were extra red-ball training sessions for inter-zonal duty, India, and India A.

Only Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur from that match remain in India’s squad for the one-off Test against England at DY Patil Stadium.

On the other hand, Heather Knight will serve as captain of the England women’s cricket team.England batting all-rounder Emma Lamb has withdrawn from the team ahead of the four-day Test match due to a back ailment. She will be going home to see a spinal specialist. Following Emma’s withdrawal, left-arm spinner Kirstie Gordon and middle-order batsman Maia Bouchier have been added to the England Test team.

In the meantime, Bess Heath, a wicketkeeper-batter, has been called up for her first Test match. After healing from her injuries, star left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone has also joined the Test team.

In their head-to-head record, India leads England by two wins to one over the course of 14 encounters. Over the years, 11 games between the teams have resulted in draws.