Bhatia’s Lord’s century puts India in command as England stare at a record chase
Yastika Bhatia became the first woman to score a Test century at Lord’s as India declared and set England 457 in the one-off Test.
Jul 12, 2026
Yastika Bhatia turned Lord’s history into something personal on Sunday, becoming the first woman to score a Test century at the Home of Cricket and steering India towards a commanding position in the one-off Test against England.
Bhatia reached three figures in the afternoon session, raising her bat and sinking to her knees to kiss the turf as the crowd rose to mark the moment. She had survived a scare earlier in the day, when a Lauren Bell delivery brushed her off stump without dislodging the bails, and she made the reprieve count. Her 113 anchored India’s second innings and gave the tourists the platform to bat England out of the match.
A landmark to match Kranti Gaud’s
Bhatia’s hundred followed Kranti Gaud’s five-wicket haul on day two, when the young seamer became the first woman to earn a place on the Lord’s honours board with the ball. In the space of two days the pair have handed India two entries in the ground’s record books, at a match already billed as the first women’s Test staged at Lord’s.
Smriti Mandhana, who had looked the likeliest centurion for much of the game, fell short of the same milestone. She made 83 in the first innings and passed fifty again in the second, twice shaping India’s total without going on to the hundred that would have sat alongside Bhatia’s in the history books.
England left with a mountain to climb
India declared their second innings on 341 for 7, setting England 457 to win. That figure sits well beyond anything managed in the fourth innings of a women’s Test. The record successful chase is still Australia’s 198 against England in Sydney in 2011, which frames the size of England’s task: survival, not victory, is the realistic aim on the final day.
The chase unravelled fast. England lost half their side cheaply as India’s bowlers kept chipping away, and although Sophie Ecclestone had been the tourists’ most stubborn opponent with the ball through India’s second innings, that counted for little once England batted. By the close of day three they had crawled to 130 for 6, still 327 runs short of the target.
Amy Jones was the reason England reached stumps at all, digging in for an unbeaten half-century to keep the innings alive alongside Ecclestone. India need four more wickets on the final day to seal a statement win in their first Test at Lord’s. England, with survival their only realistic aim, resume on Monday knowing the match is India’s to lose.