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Mumbai-based pace-bowling all-rounder Sayali Satghare, 25, has more than justified her Test debut against Australia, finishing with 4-50 in 18.4 overs as the visitors dismissed the hosts for 323 on Day Two at the WACA in Perth.
Batting first, India managed just 198 on Day One after which the Australians assumed a 125-run lead, thanks to Annabel Sutherland’s 129. At Stumps on Day Two, India are 105-6, trailing the Aussies by 20 runs, and defeat seems imminent. However, Satghare’s performance has come as a silver lining for the visitors.
Mumbai-based Satghare, needed just eight deliveries into her debut encounter on Day One to dismiss the dangerous Georgia Voll, clean bowled with a brilliant inswinger. She then accounted for the ever-so-reliable Alyssa Healy a few overs later. Satghare’s other two wickets were Alana King and Lucy Hamilton on Day Two.
Sayali Satghare (centre) with her parents dad Ganesh, mum Swati, younger brother Siddharth (right) and her first coach Praful Naik (left)
Back home in Borivli, Satghare’s parents, father Ganesh, mother Swati and younger brother Siddharth are over the moon. “Sayali was extremely excited to play this pink-ball Test in Australia after being there for the India ‘A’ tour back in 2024. The experience of having previously played a multi-day match in Australia was key to her getting picked for this Test. She knew the conditions well and was expecting to do well,” dad Ganesh told Sunday mid-day on Saturday.
Her family also had no doubt that she would do well Down Under. “Of course, Swati, Siddharth and I, all of us expected her to do well. I have full faith in her abilities. She has a great work ethic, so we always knew that she would do well, especially in the pacer-friendly conditions at the WACA,” added Ganesh, a civil engineer by profession.
Satghare practises at the Kalpavriksha Cricket Clinic in Bandra, under coach Prashant Shetty. Her first coach though is Praful Naik. When asked if she would have felt any nerves ahead of such an important assignment, Satghare Sr said there was no time for it: “Sayali came home from Chandigarh on February 24, after representing Mumbai in the Sr Women’s One Day trophy, and the very next day she left for Australia. With such a packed schedule, she would not have had any time or space for nervousness.”
Brief scores
India 198 & 105-6 (P Rawal 43*, L Hamilton 3-32, A Sutherland 2-15) vs Australia 323 (A Sutherland 129, E Perry 76; S Satghare 4-50, D Sharma 2-67, K Gaud 2-72)
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