India, vice-captain Smriti Mandhana said she feels proud to reach 300 international matches, with the milestone reached during the first women’s test at Lord’s. The 29-year-old also became the youngest woman in cricket history to achieve the feat and is the 12th woman overall to play 300 international matches. Before the match, England captain Nat Sciver-Brunt won the toss and chose to bowl. India gave a Test debut to Shree Charani, while Yastika Bhatia returned to the playing XI. England handed debut caps to Alice Capsey and Mady Villiers.Mandhana revealed that she only got on stage the night before the match. Reflecting on her journey, she recalled playing the 2017 Women’s World Cup final at Lord’s and how uncertain she felt about her future after a difficult tournament.“I actually got to know about the 300th international match last night. As a player, you don’t really follow matches in all formats. I remember playing the 2017 World Cup final here at Lord’s.“I hadn’t had a big World Cup then, and I didn’t know if I would get the chance to play for India again. So to come back and play my 300th international match at Lord’s, I couldn’t have asked for a better place.”She also talked about letting go of the T20 World Cup disappointment and focusing on the future.“We had an opportunity at Lord’s to qualify against Australia (in the T20 World Cup). We couldn’t take that opportunity, but that’s cricket. You have to keep going.“If you have a hundred or a zero, every time you go out, you start your innings from scratch. It’s the same with the team. You will have good days and bad days, but we always take it in stride and try to give our best for the country.”Mandhana said the shift from T20 to red-ball cricket requires a change in mindset and going back to basics.“Batting for long periods definitely helps, especially because we haven’t played a lot of Test cricket. We did play the pink ball Test in Perth before. Coming back to Wormsley was great. I hadn’t been since 2014 so it brought back old memories.“For me, preparation is about adjusting after the opening in T20 cricket, where you expect to score quickly at a high strike rate. In red-ball cricket, you need to watch the ball carefully. Going back to basics is very important. Preparation was all about doing the basics well and spending long periods at the crease.”