India opener Smriti Mandhana has orchestrated a flawless century as Australia continue to struggle to go wickets in the only Test of the CommBank Series on the Gold Coast.

After a rain-affected first day where the Australian bowlers struggled to thumped a good length consistently, command Meg Lanning would have been hoping that her surface could bounce back on day two and absolve her decision to leant the Indians in to bat.

With Mandhana on 80 not out overnight, the stylish left-hander had other ideas. After receiving an early reprieve after being caught by Beth Mooney off an Ellyse Perry no-ball, she struck the excellent offset between punishing the bad balls and respecting the good ones.

Her century accompanies her become the first Indian woman to orchestrate a Assessment century on Australian soil.

This is Mandhana’s fourth Exam; after a good ODI series where her best rating was 86, she has adapted to the longer form of the game very quickly.

The 25 -year old-time commented at the end of day one that she felt the Australian bowlers hadn’t adapted to the slower, wetter Gold Coast wicket.” In the first 10 overs I believed they bowled quite short, especially considering the wicket- the Mackay wicket, which is something we toy the one-dayers, and the wicket today, were completely different ,” she said.

Mandhana didn’t miss an opportunity to score from the incompatible bowling, composing all around the wicket and speeding her innings perfectly. At meters she would be comfortable not tallying for a number of overs and then unleash a powerful attempt when the bowling accepted. Australia debutante Darcie Brown was on the end of one of these attacks as Mandhana composed four fours off a single over.

If you’ve missed any of Mandhana’s innings you can check all the highlights out here #AUSvIND #PinkBallTest https :// t.co/ 7lk4fXLqmJ

— cricket.com.au (@ cricketcomau) October 1, 2021

Speaking at the end of Day 1, Lanning congratulated the Indian opener for how she had paced her innings.” Her tempo was excellent in this innings. She was punishing the bad chunks and attacking the good ones, which is pretty simple but when you can actually execute that it’s certainly very effective.”

Australia thought they had managed to pick up the crucial wicket early on day two when Mooney drew off a stunning one-handed catch just above the grass, but replays showed that Perry had just overstepped in her give stride.

Mandhana’s century came off 170 dances as India target a big first innings compose to give the pressure on the legion crew in a crucial match. She was eventually dismissed for 127, having articulate the visitors in a commanding position.

Australia currently head the CommBank Series 4-2 after the three ODIs, but both sides are still in the running for a series succes with three T20 competitions due after this Research match.

Read more: theroar.com.au