The strong-willed women who crafted India’s historic win at Lord’s

By K.R. Nayar 

India’s women’s team thrashing England by 270 runs in the one-off Test match at the historic Lord’s Cricket Ground will be etched as a golden page in India’s cricket history. Becoming the winner of the first-ever women’s Test at Lord’s is indeed a great honour. It is akin to planting the tricolour at the summit of Mount Everest.

One is reminded of the famous quote by Sunil Gavaskar after he crossed the 10,000-run barrier in Test cricket and had compared it to climbing Mount Everest, when he said: “There may be others who will follow, but the one who gets there first is remembered”. In the future, many women’s teams may go on to record Test victories at Lord’s, but India, who did it first through an emphatic win, will be remembered forever. All firsts, in sport, are indeed forever.

Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and coach Amol Muzumdar need to be lauded for being able to shake off the ICC T20 World Cup exit defeat barely two weeks ago at the same venue (on June 28, 2026) against Australia. To tune the players’ focus for a Test win against the home team is truly remarkable. Shutting out all the negativity following a defeat is no mean task.

Moreover, winning at Lord’s is always special. India’s men’s team needed 11 attempts to record their first-ever win at Lord’s when, under Kapil Dev, they recorded a five-wicket win in June 1986.

The women’s team recorded this feat mainly due to the determination, stubbornness, and devotion of some of the players, towards making a mark in world cricket. Kranti Gaud, the medium pacer who bagged the Player of the Match award with a match haul of seven wickets (5 for 37 and 2 for 54), said: “I wanted to get my name written on the honours board.” She grew up playing tennis-ball cricket with boys in Ghuwara, a small town in Bundelkhand in Madhya Pradesh, and achieving this honour speaks volumes about her devotion to the game.

Another star behind the Lord’s win was Yastika Bhatia, who hit 113 runs in the second innings to swell India’s lead. She is known for her stubbornness. In fact, her father calls her “ziddi,” which means stubborn in Hindi, due to her relentless hard work during training routines. She refused to stop practising during the COVID lockdown in 2020, and her father had to convert a portion of their apartment complex’s parking lot into a net facility to give Bhatia regular throwdowns. This fit and agile wicketkeeper is also a black belt in karate, a swimmer, and a district-level badminton player.

Smriti Mandhana, who hit half-centuries in both innings (83 and 70), had to overcome a personal setback in 2025 involving her last-minute marriage cancellation to a music composer. Instead of staying depressed, she decided to channel her focus on cricket. She had once stated that wearing the Indian jersey gives her the greatest motivation and that she has always wanted to be a world champion. Mandhana is said to be influenced by the Bhagavad Gita for clarity, patience, and emotional balance.  She is proof of how a calm mind can produce the fiercest performances.

Then there is off-spinner Sneh Rana, who bagged four wickets in England’s second innings to secure the massive win. She hails from the outskirts of Dehradun, the capital city of the Northern state of Uttarakhand. Although her father was a farmer, he backed her strongly in her career. Two months before her Test debut, her 61-year-old father passed away. In her debut match against England at Bristol in 2021, she became the first Indian woman cricketer, and the fourth in the history of the sport, to register a half-century (80 n.o.) and prise out a four-wicket haul on Test debut. While pain can break you or build you, Rana chose the latter.

Deepti Sharma and Richa Ghosh, who like their skipper Kaur, hit half centuries, are fighters to the core.

Test cricket tests technique, temperament, patience, and the soul’s endurance in life’s journey with the game. For Team India’s women cricketers, producing such a feat at Lord’s—the Home of Cricket—will remain an achievement that can be recalled again and again with pride.