Harmanpreet Kaur gears up for first home test in a decade against England

Indian women's cricket team captain Harmanpreet Kaur is excited for the first test at home in almost a decade and believes that the biggest challenge will be to adapt to the format in a short time.

The Indian team is scheduled to play two Tests at home -- first against England from December 14 at Navi Mumbai followed by a match against Australia beginning December 21 in Mumbai.

However, the lack of enough red-ball cricket for the Indian women is a concern for Harmanpreet, who has played just three Tests in her illustrious career so far.

"The Test series is something which we aly looking forward to because I haven't played in front of a home crowd [since 2014], so lly excited for that," Harmanpreet was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

"The challenge for us is that we haven't played with the red ball. We have been playing with the white ball for so many years."

The Indian team has hardly played any test matches playing just 13 matches since the turn of the century. India's last test against Australia at the Carrara Oval ended in a draw with Smriti Mandhana scoring a stylish century.

"Even in domestic cricket also, we don't have red-ball cricket back home. So the challenge for us is to make yourself ready in such a short time," Harmanpreet said.

Hamanpreet has scored just 38 runs at an average of 7.60 in 3 Tests but has nine wickets to her name she claimed during her only home Test in November 2014 against South Africa. Her remaining two Tests were against England in Wormsley (2014) and Bristol (2021).

While she is currently in Australia for the Women's Big Bash League (WBBL), Harmanpreet will be playing Melbourne Renegades' final game versus Melbourne Stars at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on November 25, leaving her just 19 days to prepare for the England Test beg.

Harmanpreet had planned on practicing with the red ball during her WBBL stint but the packed schedule has sent her plans for a toss.

"I had that thought if I can simultaneously do some red-ball practice also, but because it's such a packed schedule you can't mix things," she said.

The Indian team has the likes of Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana and Poonam Raut who have showed brilliance in their small test career and this will act as an opportunity for them to showcase their red ball prowess.