New Delhi: After getting dismantled by their English counterpart in the first two matches of the series, the Indian women’s cricket team came back strongly and ended the series with a win in the third and final match.
Indian women’s team had already lost the series before walking into the final match and had only one thing in mind, which was how to end the series with some positives and march into the test match with some momentum under their belt.
The women in blue fulfilled their mission, thanks to Smriti Mandhana’s gritty 48 runs knock after a sensational bowling performance from the bowlers.
India won the match, but it was the English side who walked away with the series by 2-1.
The English skipper Heather Knight won the toss and opted to bat first.
Freya Kemp and Sophie Ecclestone were the most successful bowlers for the English side, with two wickets each, while Charlotte Dean took one wicket for herself.
India and England will now face each other in a one-off test match starting December 14.
The women in blue soon made the English side regret their captain’s decision by removing their top three, Sophie Dunkley (11), Maia Bouchier (0) and Alice Capsey (7), inside the powerplay, reducing the total to 26 for 3.
Heather Knight (52) and Amy Jones (25), tried to revive the English innings, but the Indian bowlers made a comeback once again and castled out the whole English team on a small total of 126.
Saika Ishaque and Shreyanka Patil were the most successful bowlers for the Indian side, with 3 wickets each, while Renuka Singh and Amanjot Kaur took two wickets each.
In reply, India suffered an early blow, when Freya Kemp removed Shafali Verma (6), very cheaply.
However, Smriti Mandhana (48) and Jemimah Rodrigues (29), added 57 runs for the third wicket to revive the Indian innings, but it was Amanjot Kaur who gave the finishing touch with 10* from 4 balls innings to take India home with 5 wickets and 6 balls to spare.
