The first-ever women’s Test at Lord’s was always going to make headlines. Nobody thought the lunch menu would, too. With Team India playing the game, the chefs at the ‘Home of Cricket’ were on point with their menu. Photo of the food choices made rounds.
Tucked between butter chicken, pasta and pan-seared halibut was something that probably made a few Indian players do a double take: Rajasthani Black Chickpea Curry. For all the Indians, it is Chhole. Yes, we have Rajasthani chhole serving at the Mecca of Cricket.
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IND vs ENG Test: Lord’s food menu – a must watch
You just don’t associate an Indian local dish like chhole be part of the main course at Lord’s. But this is a crossover that the Indian team might love. For a place that’s all about tradition, blazers and 100-year-old scoreboards, that was pretty cool.
The full menu had all kinds of stuff as well. You had the usual smoked butter chicken, penne pasta, soups, and salads. Then there was pumpkin-paneer-spinach curry and that black chickpea dish. Desserts too, including fruit salad, ice cream, yoghurt with berries. Teams travel with dieticians now, so none of this is shocking. But still, imagine being an Indian player, grinding through a session at Lord’s, and walking into lunch to see something that tastes like home. Harmanpreet Kaur’s team probably didn’t mind that break one bit.
Historic women’s Test at Lord’s
This is no ordinary Test match. It is the first women’s Test ever played at Lord’s, 142 years after the ground hosted its first men’s Test. The occasion also marks 50 years since Rachael Heyhoe Flint first led an England women’s team onto the famous ground.
More than 30,000 tickets were sold before the match, something that you don’t regularly associate with it. And India certainly turned up for the occasion.
After England captain Nat Sciver-Brunt won the toss and chose to bowl under sunny London skies, Smriti Mandhana ensured her name entered the history books. The left-hander became the first woman to score a Test fifty at Lord’s, anchoring India’s innings alongside captain Harmanpreet, who also made a fifty.
The visitors arrived with history on their side too. Before this match, India had never lost a women’s Test in England, recording two wins and seven draws from nine previous attempts. Overall, England’s lone victory against India in women’s Tests came all the way back in 1995.
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