India, England and the inevitable red-ball rust within

Trust Heather Knight to be eloquent. When the English captain labelled playing a Test in India as 'one of the bucket-list things for a cricketer', she wasn't just summing up the emotions of her squad of 15, none of whom have any experience of multi-day cricket on these shores, but also speaking for the majority of the Indian side that will take field, at DY Patil Stadium on Thursday (December 14), in whites.

Test cricket for women is returning to India after a nine-year hiatus. Back in November 2014, when India last played a home Test, Smriti Mandhana was still a teenage batting prodigy taking incremental steps in international cricket, Rajeshwari Gayakwad was on debut, and Harmanpreet Kaur had just turned to offspin at her father's behest since renouncing medium-pace aspirations. A wicket off a first ball full-toss was the last thing Harmanpreet expected to open her Test account with, but the match haul of 9 for 85 she claimed to propel India to victory still are the best figures by an Indian woman spinner. With Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami retired, these three are the only common denominators from that match.

Not that those performances, results, 'recent' form or even the teams' head-to-head stats have any significant bearing. Even among its limited participants, Women's Tests are so few and far between and, mostly, devoid of context. India played their last two years ago, ending a seven-year drought. For England Women, it's a historic 100th Test but it has taken nine decades of being one of the regulars of the format to get there. From the most-experienced Knight - an 11-Test veteran - to India's probable debutants, these are more or less uncharted waters across the board for varied reasons. And with just a three-day turnaround time that will