3rd T20I – England pull off last-ball win despite Smriti Mandhana’s 58

 

Toss – Won by England Women and elected to bat first

1^st Innings Summary – In an unconventional move, spinner Deepti Sharma was given the new ball (in 2^nd over) and in-form English opener Danielle Wyatt hit the first six of the match on the second ball of 2^nd over. In the subsequent over, Tammy Beaumont hit pacer Shikha Pandey for three fours in the same over. As a result of this, England were comfortably placed at 42 without the loose of any wicket after the first six overs (Mandatory batting powerplay).

India got first breakthough in the form of Wyatt’s wicket in 8^th over, next Poonav Yadav bowled out Natalie Sciver in 9^th over and then Anuja Patil struck again by getting Beaumont stumped out by wicketkeeper Taniya Bhatia in 10^th over. These three wickets brought back the confidence of Indian unit as Bhatia did another brilliant stumping behind the wickets to send back the English skipper Heather Knight back to the pavillon on the first ball of 14^th over.

Harleen Deol got Winfield LBW out in 15^th over despite of some controversy regarding the landing of front foot of the bowler but third umpire seemed to be satisfied with the same and handling a vital wicket to India. England were 82-5 at the end of 15 overs.

Amy Jones was sent at number five instead of her usual opening position and she was looking good as she struck Harleen for two consecutive fours in 17^th over before getting out in the same over after being caught out by Shikha Pandey (a good running catch from the athlete). In the end England put up a modest target of 120 for the Indian side to win this match.

2^nd Innings Summary – Harleen Deol and skipper Smriti Mandhana opened up in India’s chase with India needing ‘a run a ball’ to reach the target in 20 overs. It was an off day for Sciver as she started her bowling spell with three wides in the first over itself. Harleen Deol’s poor run continued as she threw her wicket and gave 1^st breakthrough to England in 2^nd over. Mandhana on the other end was heading towards another masterpiece innings as she hit a fabulous six (Ganguly style) on the last ball of 5^th over.

India were comfortably placed at 59-1 after nine overs just when Linsey Smith gave second breakthrough to her team by sending back Jemimah Rodrigues on the first ball of 10^th over. But there was no stopping for Mandhana as she struck two fours in the same over. The skipper reached her 9^th fifty in T20s by taking a single on the third ball of 11^th over.

Laura Marsh removed Smriti in 13^th over to give a ray of hope to her team and brought up the fighting spirit among the team members. A match defining moment that was because the kind of platform was laid down by the captain it seemed India were in comfortable position to win this one.

But her teammates could not live up to their captain’s expectations (Mandhana mentioned in the post-match presentation that she was disappointed with the way the girls batted) and succumbed to the pressure. Although Mithali Raj played well and brought India to a near win as only three runs were needed to win from the last over. But unfortunately she was on the non-striker’s end and Kate Cross produced a sensational last over. Three dot balls in a row followed by two wickets and merely a single on the last ball gave a thrilling win to England who completed the 3-match whitewash successfully in the end.

Player of the match – Kate Cross for snatching a thrilling win for her team in the last over and with figures of 4-0-18-2

Other Remarkable Performances –

1. Smriti Mandhana – 58 runs off just 39 balls including eight fours and a six
2. Danielle Wyatt – 2-0-7-0 and 24 runs off 22 balls

Player of the Series – Danielle Wyatt for being brilliant with both bat and ball throughout the T20 series

Brief scorecard:

England Women – 119/6 (20 overs)

India Women – 118/6 (20 overs)

Result – England Women won by 1 run