Summary of this article
Australia bundled India for 198 on Day 1 of one-off test at the WACA Stadium in Perth
Jemimah Rodrigues top score for India with 52 runs
India reduced Australia to 98/3 at Day 1 stumps
Jemimah Rodrigues emerged as the lone performer for India with the bat, taking them to a lowly 198-run total in the first innings on the WACA Stadium in Perth on Friday, March 6, 2026.
Rodrigues slammed a valiant half-century under testing conditions, scoring a fluent 52 off 84 balls while the rest of the Indian batting capitulated in front of Australian pacers Annabel Sutherland and debutant Lucy Hamilton.
Australia won the toss and elected to field first. The pace duo of Sutherland and Hamilton proved the decision right by bowling in the right areas and producing ample movement from the pitch to make it difficult for the Indian batters.
Left-arm Hamilton struck the first blow to India by removing the in-form Smriti Mandhana in the sixth over of the match with a brilliant in-swinger.
Shafali Varma looked good on the crease for her 35 but was removed by Sutherland with an outswinger tailing enough to catch her outside edge.
Debutant Pratika Rawal (18) and skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (19) weren't able to convert their starts into something meaningful, while all-rounder Deepti Sharma also failed to make it count as India slipped to 107/5.
But a 43-run association between Rodrigues and Richa Ghosh (11, 41b) for the sixth wicket carried India to 150.
Just as things were stabilizing for India, they lost Jemimah and Ghosh to Hamilton and Ash Gardner within the span of just one over, leaving India reeling at 150/7. However, an inspiring 38-run stand on the 9th wicket between Kashvee Gautam (34 not out) and Sayali Satghare (7 off 35b) took India closer to 200
Indian Bowlers Made Early Inroads
In response, Indian bowlers also made use of the bowling-friendly conditions with a good off-stump line to claim the Australian top-order, leaving them 96 for three by stumps. The hosts are still trailing by 102 runs.
They sent back southpaw, Phoebe Litchfield (9) and skipper Alyssa Healy (13) to get Aussies loitering at 58/5. But Ellyse Perry (43 batting) and Sutherland (20 batting) helped the hosts to navigate through the rest of the night without any damage.
