India's Lord's win honours the women who built the team 50 years ago
Image: BBC News
On Monday afternoon at Lord's, India's Sneh Rana floated one outside the off stump, the ball dipped, gripped and sneaked between bat and pad. As her teammates rushed in, she blew a kiss skywards.
England were all out for 186, handing India a 270-run victory — the biggest by a visiting side against England in women's Tests, and the fourth largest in the format's history.
It was a landmark half a century in the making. Fifty years after India played their first recognised women's international series, Harmanpreet Kaur's side became the first Indian women's team to win a Test at Lord's — in the first women's Test ever staged at the ground, 142 years after it opened.
Why it matters: The celebrations were as much about the past as the present. Throughout the match, the players honoured the pioneers who laid the foundations of Indian women's cricket, insisting this moment belonged to them too. "Playing at Lord's is always special," said Harmanpreet, now the country's most successful Test captain.
For Rana, 37 and playing only the eighth Test of a 17-year career, the day carried extra weight — a reminder of how few opportunities her generation has had in the longest format. "Maybe it's late but not too late," she had said beforehand. "Still I'm playing, still getting this opportunity."
The win extended India's unbeaten Test record in England to 10 matches — three wins and seven draws — and arrived 40 years after their maiden women's Test tour there in 1986.
What's next: The hope now is that this breakthrough at cricket's cathedral becomes a turning point — more Test matches, more investment, and a fuller reckoning with the women who started it all.