Navi Mumbai (Maharashtra)/Hyderabad: It was a special day for Vrinda Ghanshyam Rathi as after years of hard work she has achieved a special feat as she became the first Woman Test umpire from India.
During the India Women versus England Women Test being played at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Thursday, Vrinda Rathi is officiating as an on-field umpire and became India's first Woman Test umpire.
Soft-spoken Rathi cleared the umpires exam conducted by the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) in 2014 and then subsequently by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in 2018. Since then, she hadn't looked back.
She was promoted to the ICC Development Panel of Umpires in 2020. Rathi who stood in the final match of the first-ever Women’s Premier League and also officiated in the Asian Games at Hangzhou in China added yet another feather to her otherwise illustrious cap.
In 2022, Rathi also stood as an umpire in the Commonwealth Games at Birmingham in the United Kingdom.
The other match officials for the one-off Test between India Women and England Women are KN Anathapadmanabham (India) — the second on-field umpire; Virender Sharma (India) — the third umpire; and GS Lakshmi (India) — match referee.
Women's Test Cricket also returned to India after nine long years. As far as the match is concerned, India were comfortably placed at 136 for 2 at lunch despite losing openers Smriti Mandhana (17) and Shafali Varma (19) cheaply after electing to bat.
Shubha Satheesh and local girl Jemimah Rodrigues are steering the Indian innings and have taken the English attack to task from the word go. Meanwhile, the entry for the spectators for the four-day 'Test' has been kept free.
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