Women's Cricket
India tour of England: Yastika Bhatia century powers India on Day 3
India are just four wickets away from winning the first-ever Test match at Lord's.
Indian women's cricket team celebrate a wicket at Lord's (Photo credit: BCCI Women/Twitter)
India extended their dominance over England in the one-off Test match at Lord's as Yastika Bhatia raced to a maiden international century on Day 3.
Bhatia survived a scare on the very first ball off the day as the bails failed to dislodge despite the ball hitting stumps and cruised to a 145-ball 100 in the second session.
The southpaw smashed 14 boundaries in her 158-ball 113 before being prized out by Sophie Ecclestone, who completed a five-wicket haul with her left-arm spin.
Richa Ghosh stayed unbeaten on 50 off 52 deliveries with eight boundaries as India declared their second innings at 341/7 in 83.3 overs with a lead of 456 runs.
Asked to chase 457 to pull off an unlikely win, England didn't have the best of starts in the fourth innings as Kranti Gaud cleaned up Tammy Beaumont for a golden duck in what was her final international innings.
Beaumont's opening partner Maia Boucher didn't last long either, trapped leg before wicket by Sayali Satghare for just two, leaving England reeling at 6/2.
Both Gaud and Satghare struck once more, while Sneh Rana sent skipper Nat Sciver Brunt packing as England collapsed to 59/5.
Mady Villiers and Amy Jones then put up some resistance with a 67-run stand for the sixth wicket, but Rana managed to get the former to put India just four wickets away from victory at the end of day's play.