India vs England women | Anuja Patil, Smriti Mandhana lead India to their first victory in tri-series
The Indian womenās team beat England in the sixth match of the T20I match of the tri-nation series which also involves Australia. After the Indian bowler Anuja Patil picked up three wickets in the first innings, Smriti Mandhana scored a brilliant half-century to secure the win for the Indian team.
Brief scores: Eng Women 107/10 (Danielle Wyatt 31, Amy Jones 15; Anuja Patil 3/21, Radha Yadav 2/16) lost to Ind Women 108/2 (Smriti Mandhana 62*, Harmanpreet Kaur 20*; Danielle Hazell 2/17) by 8 wickets
England opener Danielle Wyatt was off to a decent start for the visiting team as she started strongly with partner Amy Ellen JonesĀ before the former was caught and bowled by Indian Bowler Deepti Sharma in the seventh over while batting at 31. The rest of the English team did not manage to get the big runs as skipper Heather Knight and Natalie Scriver scored 11 and 15 respectively before they left the pitch.
A powerful display in Mumbai by the Indian bowling department meant that England were bowled out for a meager total of 107 after 18.5 overs with Anuja Patil ending the day on three wickets while Poonam Yadav bagged two at an economy rate of 4.25. India were set a comfortable target of 108 to reach in 20 overs, something the home team would have fancied to chase down easily.
The second innings began with a bang as the Indian opening duo of the dangerous Mithali Raj and Smriti Mandhana were determined to punish their British counterparts. Raj began with a four off just the second delivery of the innings to set the pace for the Indians. But the real match-winner today was Mandhana who starred with a spectacular unbeaten 62 off 41 balls with a strike rate of 151.22. Teenager Jemimah Rodrigues failed to get off the mark after Rajās dismissal in the fourth over as she departed the pitch after facing just seven deliveries.Ā
Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur did her part today as she played second fiddle to the in-form Mandhana, as the duo comfortably reached the target of 108 in 15.4 overs. Although the home team were out of contention for the finals of the tri-nation tournament, this win will boost the morale of the entire team after a run of disappointing displays on home soil.
