So astonishing was the first innings of the Test between Indias women and South Africas women that multiple new entries needed to be made into crickets record books by the time India had declared on the second day of play.
In posting 603 for six before declaring in Chennai, India scored the highest total in womens Test cricket and became the first to surpass the 600-mark in first-class cricket, according ESPNs cricinfo.
The opening days 525 for 4 was the most runs scored by any team, men or women, in a days play of Test cricket, and the first 500-plus total on day one in womens Test cricket.
Shafali Verma was the standout performer in an unforgettable start to the one-off encounter, scoring 205 for the fastest double century in womens Test history. She also became the first woman to hit more than 200 runs in a day in a Test match and, aged 20 years and 152 days, the second-youngest woman to score a Test double-century.
Her partnership of 292 runs with Smriti Mandhana is the highest opening stand in womens Test cricket. Another partnership, between Harmanpreet Kaur and Richa Ghosh accumulated 143 runs, the highest fifth-wicket stand in womens Tests.
Today, the ball was coming on well and my scores in the last three ODIs pushed me to just think one thing, that I shouldnt get out and I should play through the day, Shafali said, per cricinfo.
So the idea was to back my strengths, take some time, and find a way to stay at the wicket.
In response, South Africa were still behind Indias mammoth total after posting 266 runs in its first innings and reaching 232/2 in its second innings on day three with play still ongoing.