Smriti Mandhana’s 70 helped India Women to get to 153 in their 20 overs as Katherine Brunt and Sophie Ecclestone combined to take five wickets between them. Chasing under 8 runs an over, Danni Wyatt’s 89 not out along with Nat Sciver’s 42 helped England hunt down the target with ease.
England Women produced a clinical performance once again as they sealed the T20I series and the overall multi-format series. The bowlers set up the game as they restricted India Women to just 153 before Danni Wyatt’s unbeaten 89 powered them to the finish line.
India won the toss and opted to bat first. Katherine Brunt set the tone early as the veteran England pacer knocked over Shafali Verma. That early wicket meant India couldn’t really force the pace in the powerplay and even lost Harleen Deol in the fourth over as Sophie Ecclestone picked up her first wicket. India were 15/2 at the end of the fourth over.
Smriti Mandhana and skipper Harmanpreet Kaur steadied the ship and got the side back on track with a 68-run stand. Kaur got a 26-ball 36. and India’s run-rate was around 7 when she was dismissed in the 13th over. Mandhana continued in full flow and notched up her 13th T20I half-century. But she was dismissed by Brunt for 70 in the 17th over and India’s score was 122/5. But Richa Ghosh’s cameo (20 off 13 balls) helped India finish with a bit of a flourish. Ecclestone finished with three wickets in the innings.
In reply, England had a sedate start. They lost Tammy Beaumont in the fourth over as Deepti Sharma got the first breakthrough for India. But that was the only success India had early in the innings. Danni Wyatt joined hands with Nat Sciver and put on a solid 120-run stand for the second wicket. Wyatt was the dominant partner as she found the boundaries regularly and put the Indian spinners under pressure throughout the innings. Meanwhile, Sciver played the role of the second fiddle to perfection.
Barring Deepti Sharma, who exhibited some sort of control and kept the run-flow under check, all the Indian spinners were taken for runs. They couldn’t put pressure on the England batters as the Wyatt-Sciver partnership wiped out the deficit with ease. Sciver was out on 42 in the 17th over but by then, the game was almost sealed England needed 22 runs from as many deliveries.
Wyatt finished on 89 not out and helped the hosts wrap up the run-chase with eight balls to spare. England won the T20I series 2-1 and finished with a points tally of 10-6 in this multi-format series.
Brief Scores
India 153/6 (Mandhana 70, Kaur 36, Ecclestone 3/35, Brunt 2/27) lost to England 154/2 (Wyatt 89*, Sciver 42, Deepti 1/29, Rana 1/27) by eight wickets
