India beat Australia by eight wickets in one-off Test as it happened | Australia women's cricket

That’s all for our coverage of this one-off Test match. Disappointing as the result is for Australia, it’s surely good for the future of women’s cricket. If India learns to love women’s Test cricket, it has a much bigger chance of taking off.

Thanks to Jim and Tanya for all their hard work over the last four days, and to you for reading. Merry festivities!

Here’s the report on a seismic victory for India

Australia 219 (McGrath 50, Vastrakar 4-53) and 261 (McGrath 73, Rana 4-63) lost to India 406 (Sharma 78, Mandhana 74, Rodrigues 73, Ghosh 52, Gardner 4-100) and 75-2 by eight wickets.

The schedule for the rest of the tour

In women’s cricket they tend to have the main course first, with the starter and dessert – in this case three ODIs and three T20Is – to follow.

• 28 Dec 1st ODI

• 30 Dec 2nd ODI

• 2 Jan 3rd ODI

• 5 Jan 1st T2oI

• 7 Jan 1st T2oI

• 9 Jan 1st T2oI

Alyssa Healy has her camera out and is snapping the Indian players as they lift the trophy. There was a bit of a contretemps yesterday but generally there is plenty of goodwill between the sides.

The Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur speaks

It’s a reward for all the hard work we have done for so many years. Credit goes to all our support staff. We tried to keep things very simple and play positively. We put Richa [Ghosh] up the order because we know she can do damage. We didn’t want to go back to defensive cricket – we wanted to keep the pressure on them.

Everyone in the team contributed. Our bowling coach tells us to think only about taking wickets. We have played defensive cricket for so many years now [and it doesn’t work for us].

I want to thank the BCCI for giving us this opportunity. Hopefully after these two wins we will play many more Tests in upcoming years. Thanks also to the fans who have been there all four days.

The player of the match is Sneh Rana

It feels amazing receiving this award after such a fantastic win.

(The rest of the interview was in Hindi, hence this rather short entry.)

Alyssa Healy’s reaction

It’s been an amazing experience to play Test cricket over here – it’s not easy, as we found out. We’d love to have played a couple more games to make it really interesting. We had one bad day, the first day, and the rest of the time we showed a lot of fight so I’m proud of our effort. Fair play to India – ultimately they just put too many runs on us.

If we’d nudged over 300 on the first day it might have been a different prospect. That’s the beauty of the game, right – you’ve got to execute and we didn’t do that. Onwards and upwards, there’s still six games in this series that we’re really excited for. The girls have really enjoyed the last four days and I hope we can do it again soon.

A moment of history

Two of India’s star batters react to a famous victory

Smriti Mandhana

When we saw the wicket we thought it would be a rank turner on the third and fourth day, but if you applied yourself, showed patience and waited for the bad ball, batting wasn’t that hard. I think the partnership between Deepti [Sharma] and Pooja [Vastrakar] in the first innings won the game for us.

Jemima Rodrigues

Test cricket is something I always wanted to play. The first thing was to wear the blue jersey of India, but then to wear these whites – and get two fifties in back-to-back wins – is a dream. Christmas has come early!

Thanks Tanya, hello everyone. These are beautiful scenes in Mumbai, with the Indian players wearing the kind of smiles you only break into a few times in your life. Australia were up against it from the moment they slipped to seven for two on the first morning. They fought hard, but defeat – their first in Test cricket for a decade - felt increasingly inevitable.

Handshakes all round, and immeasurable grins. Harmanpreet gives Smriti the hug of her life. The players gather for a lap of honour, cock a hoop, bouncing out of their boots. I’m going to hand over to Rob now, to talk you through the reaction and significance of this win. Thanks for your company and messages over the last four days, have a wonderful Christmas!

India beat Australia by eight wickets!

18.3 overs: India 75-2 (Smriti 38, Jemimah 12) That’s the way to do it! Smriti makes history by lofting Jonassen back over her head. Momentary hesitation as the umpires work out if it is four or six – but it doesn’t matter. A huge win for India – their first Test victory over Australia.

18th over: India 70-2 (Smriti 34, Jemimah 1) India need 5 to win Jemimah nails the sweep – looks ugly but extremely effective!

17th over: India 65-2 (Smriti 34, Jemimah 6) India need 10 to win Jonassen, wheels in, without much to work with. A single to Jemimah, then the most perfect cover drive by Smriti – head over ball, bat wafting it on its way to the rope.

16th over: India 60-2 (Smriti 30, Jemimah 5) India need 15 to win Jemimah is gifted an out of character full toss first ball from Gardner, which she pretties away through cover for four. India nearly there, despite the loss of Richa.

WICKET! Richa c McGrath b Gardner 13 (India 55-2)

Just reward for Gardner as Richa loses the battle with her impatience, quicksteps down the wicket to sweep, and top edges to the waiting McGrath.

15th over: India 55-1 (Smriti 30, Richa 13) India need 20 to win Healy plumps for Jonassen, with India gobbling runs off McGrath. And immediately on point, a couple of beauties, ripping turn, but Smriti brings up the fifty partnership with a straight hit down the ground for four.

14th over: India 49-1 (Smriti 24, Richa 13) India need 26 to win More miserly excellence from Gardner, but no reward.

Good morning Ian Forth! “A New Year’s wish is to retire “Moral Victory!” as the supposed epitome in witty ripostes. It’s beginning to remind me of Succession - “Roman, you can’t just keep repeating ‘False flag’ “. Please let’s bury it next to “OK Boomer” and move on. (Full disclosure: I have both Australian and UK passports).”

13th over: India 48-1 (Smriti 23, Richa 13) India need 27 to win McGrath darts one in off the pitch to Smriti first ball. Another misfield, as the ball slides under the body of the diving cover – gifts India an extra run. And then four, as Smriti gets a fuller ball under her nose and leans into a cover drive of perfect balance. Four more, less perfect, harder hands, from Richa, as an edge flies past the slips for four more. Runs flowing freely since lunch off the seamer.

12th over: India 37-1 (Smriti 1t, Richa 9) India need 38 to win Smriti happy to just watch Gardner do her business, picking up a single off the last ball.

11th over: India 36-1 (Smriti 15, Richa 9) India need 39 to win Garth is replaced by McGrath. Nice to see some shots of packed seating areas – though I’ve no real idea how many people are in, as much of the ground is empty. McGrath, white warpaint Tipexed across the nose. A diving stop by Gardner saves four. A handful of singles.

10th over: India 33-1 (Smriti 13, Richa 8) India need 42 to win Gardner to continue her work. A shout for lbw against Richa, and then a streaky four as she aims to drive but edges behind. Goes to drive again off the last ball and inside edges. Living slightly dangerously.

Coffee, and a quick, creaky sun salutation in a fleecy dressing gown. They’re about to restart after lunch at the Wankhede for what will almost certainly, one way or another, be the last session of the match.

India need 46 to win, nine wickets in hand. Australia huddle together in the shade off the field before marching on. Smriti and Richa touch the ground outside the rope and jog in.

Lunch, with India on their way. Nothing is impossible on this sometime capricious pitch, against this attack, but with the target now less than fifty, that historic first Test win is within a tantalising ribbon’s width. Time for me to make a pot of coffee – back soon.

Lunch India 29-1 need 46 to win

9th over: India 29-1 (Smriti 13, Richa 4) India need 46 to win Enthusiastic chants from the Saturday lunchtime crowd. Garth with the last over before lunch. Smriti immaculate in defence. A couple through the covers again, then four byes as one zips hugely off the pitch and flies legside, well out of Healy’s grasp.

8th over: India 23-1 (Smriti 11, Richa 4) India need 52 to win Bright sunshine over Mumbai, Gardner’s tiny shadow following her every move. Dangerously, she reels. Smriti picks up a single, inside out, to cover. Richa drives expansively at the last, and misses.

7th over: India 22-1 (Smriti 10, Richa 4) India need 53 to win Healy plumps for Garth again, despite her expensive last over. Much better, but she still concedes a boundary when McGrath is done by the bounce at mid-off and lets the ball slide between her sprawling limbs to the rope.

6th over: India 18-1 (Smriti 10, Richa 0) India need 57 to win A maiden from Gardner.

5th over: India 18-1 (Smriti 10, Richa 0) India need 57 to win Smriti leans, darts out the front leg and drives gorgeously through the covers. Four more next ball, as Garth drops wide of offstump and Smriti tucks in. We catch a quick view of Marine Drive curling round the Arabian sea.

4th over: India 9-1 (Smriti 1, Richa 0) India need 66 to win A ripper from Gardner bounces over the stumps and past the gloves of Healy, whose mouth forms an 0 of surprise, down to the rope for four byes. Oh dear, and a drop, at slip, two balls later, Mooney shells as Ghosh props forward and gets an outside edge.

3rd over: India 5-1 (Smriti 1, Richa 0) Garth with her second.A wide elbowed, bustling approach. Smriti resists the temptation of a couple of wide ones on leg stump. A maiden. Just over 20 minutes till lunch.

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