IND-W v ENG-W, One-off Test: Muzumdar eager to leave WC heartbreak behind in historic Lord’s fixture

Amol Muzumdar was playing in Yorkshire when Mohammed Azharuddin’s Indian team toured England in 1996. He travelled from up north to watch the second Test, in which two young batters made their debut: Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid.

Ganguly made 131 and Dravid 95. Muzumdar still remembers watching that sublime hundred by Ganguly from the Compton Stand.

Come Friday, he will get a better view of a Lord’s Test. And he is not just going to be a spectator. He is the coach of the Indian team that is playing the first ever Women’s Test at Lord’s.

He said the team was excited about the occasion. “It just boggles my mind that it is the first Women’s Test match here at Lord’s,” he said. “It is a great occasion and we are looking forward to it.”

India is playing the Test after the disappointment at the T20 World Cup, which concluded last Sunday. India had bowed out of the competition at the group stage after losing to Australia.

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“We didn’t have the best of World Cups,” Muzumdar said. “We were disappointed for sure. I guess we have managed to do that. We had five really good days of preparation, a few days at Wormsley Cricket Club. It is a beautiful ground, just the perfect setting for the preparation.”

He said traditionally India did well in Test matches and expressed confidence that the players could handle the transition well though there were few Tests for women. “But we are playing more Test matches now than we did a few years back,” he said.

“And red-ball cricket is just about adjustment. If you are a professional cricketer, there is not much of a difference. Test cricket is exciting and it brings different challenges. You have got to bowl 100 overs, mind you. It is a four-day game, and you have to bowl 100 overs in a day. So, I guess, different challenges, different excitement.”

Priya replaces Pratika

During the press conference, Muzumdar also gave some team news. Pratika Rawal has been ruled out of the Test and she has been replaced by Priya Punia.

“Pratika suffered an injury in the India-A match,” the coach said. She has got a cut on her knee which required some stitches.”

Poor Pratika. Bad luck just refuses to leave her. She had limped out of the ODI World Cup in India last year, when she was in great form, having scored 308 runs with a century and a fifty.

Published on Jul 08, 2026