Bristol [UK], June 20 : Sneh Rana, who was just 20 short of scoring a hundred on Test debut for team India against England, said that she was focusing on staying on the pitch for her team and not on completing her century.
"At that time, I didn't focus much on scoring a century, because at that time, my team needed me to stay there, so I didn't think much about scoring the century... I had kept it simple by the ball to ball and to contribute for the sake of the team," Sneh Rana said in a post-match conference.
Sneh Rana's brilliant unbeaten 80 runs knock kept the English side on the shore during the last day of the one-off test here at Bristol County Ground. She strung together an important partnership with Taniya Bhatia and helped India to walk off with a draw.
"There was no nervousness among us. We were just following our basics. Even though they were sledging, we didn't mind them, and the result followed," said Sneh referring to her crucial partnership.
With that gritty knock, Sneh became the first Indian woman and fourth overall to have both a 50+ score and a 4+wicket haul on Test debut.
The 27-year-old from Dehradun also threw some light on what playing a test means and how patience plays a vital role in the longer format of the game.
"This is a special feeling. You get to learn many things from your seniors. Patience plays an important role here which I learned from my seniors and through coaches on nets," she said.
India is now slated to lock horns against Australia in a women's day-night Test match. The historic Test match will be the first between the Australian and Indian women's teams in 15 years, and India's first-ever women's day-night Test.