IND vs SA, one-off Test: Harmanpreet Kaur looks forward to the Chennai experience as international women’s cricket returns to city

They may be playing one Test and three T20Is at Chepauk over the next few days, but the importance of experiencing different venues before the ODI World Cup at
home next year is not lost on Harmanpreet.

“As a team, it’s a great opportunity for us,” Harmanpreet said on Wednesday. “Even though they are home conditions, we don’t have much experience here. But I think this series will definitely give us a lot of confidence to see how the wicket is going to behave and what combinations we can look for at the World Cup, with just one year left. We are taking this opportunity with both hands. It’s a great opportunity to see how the wickets are in Chennai and how we can improve our skills.”

The MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chepauk is, in head coach Amol Muzumdar’s words, historic and iconic. But that pertains largely to men’s cricket, both international and franchise. The last time the city hosted women’s international matches was in February-March 2007 (a quadrangular ODI affair). You have to go all the way back to 1976 when Chennai hosted a women’s Test.

“In the last two Tests in Mumbai, there was turn early. We don’t have much clarity about the wicket here. We discuss to go out there and see how the pitch is behaving.” Harmanpreet once again reiterated the importance of having Muzumdar in her corner, with a wealth of long-format cricket experience.

Chennai: Indian women cricket head coach Amol Muzumdar with captain Harmanpreet Kaur, vice captain Smriti Mandhana and others during a practice session ahead of the women’s one-off test cricket match against South Africa, at MA Chidambaram Stadium, in Chennai, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. (PTI Photo/R Senthilkumar)(PTI06_26_2024_000228A)

India might be the home side, but the conditions will be as much of an unknown to them as they are for Laura Wolvaardt’s South Africa.

“I don’t have much experience of playing Tests, that’s where Amol sir helped me a lot with the captaincy in the last Two tests in terms of decision-making. We have seen men’s Test matches here, but women’s cricket is completely different in terms of the pace. Once we start playing, we will be gathering experience, and the staff will help us,” the captain said.

The experience of playing back-to-back home Test matches six months back will help India, undoubtedly. The BCCI have gone a step further in their commitment for women to play more with red ball as an inter-zonal days cricket tournament was played in March, a luxury that South Africa don’t have and Wolvaardt hoped to see in the future.

“Most of us don’t have any preparation in the format, since we don’t play domestic four-day cricket. I have to leave the balls that I have been cover-driving my whole life, and I still tend to play it by instinct,” Wolvaardt said. “I think either we need to play a lot more Test cricket and incorporate it into our domestic practice and training, or we must just leave it because playing one in three years is very hard to adapt to. But I’m on the side to have more of it.”

She put it as a chicken-and-egg paradox too, wondering if playing more Tests that are exciting matches would help have a domestic setup or vice versa.

The frequency of women’s Test matches have gone up in recent times, but a lack of overall context continues to be a talking point. Unlike the Ashes, which is played in a multi-format points system, India’s home assignments continue to be standalone affairs. Muzumdar hoped for a Test championship of some sort in the future. But in the here and now, the Chennai experience over the next week or so is crucial for this Indian women’s team, if the World Cup comes to the city in 2025.