1st ODI – Mithali’s calm and Ekta’s storm clears up English batting line-up to take 1-0 series lead

Toss – Won by England Women and elected to bowl first

1^st Innings Summary – Although Indian skipper lost the toss but she told that they would have chosen to bat first anyway. Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues walked up to the crease and Katherine Brunt opened up the bowling attack. Both the batters took some time to settle down and the first boundary came off Mandhana’s bat in 4^th over and soon after that Rodrigues (known for aggressive batting) hit another four on the last ball of fifth over. India reached 59runs after 15overs without a loss of any wicket.

Sensibly built-up opening partnership was broken immediately after drinks when Georgia Elwiss bowled out Mandhana on the first bowl of 16^th over. Another wicket fell in quick succession as Deepti Sharma was stumped out in 19^th over. Soon, Rodrigues became the second victim of Sophie Ecclestone. Debutant Harleen Deol and Mona Meshram could not do much as India was reduced to 105-5 at the end of 25 overs.

Captain Mithali Raj needed support on the other end and wicketkeeper Taniya Bhatia did the same. The 54-run partnership met an unfortunate end with Taniya getting run-out in 38^th over. Mithali was given LBW out on the first ball of 42^nd over, the scoreboard read 165-7, and two bowlers were on the crease in the most crucial death overs.

A useful partnership of 23runs happened between Jhulan Goswami and Shikha Pandey before Pandey succumbed to another run-out due to misunderstanding. Jhulan hit the first six of the innings on the second ball of 50^th over but was caught out two balls later as the entire Indian team was bowled out for 202runs in 49.4 overs.

2^nd Innings Summary – Chasing a modest total, English team lost their first wicket in 2^nd over as Indian pacer Shikha Pandey sent Amy Ellen Jones back into the pavilion with a brilliant in swinger. Just before finishing her opening spell, Pandey took another wicket and that too of mighty Sarah Taylor by getting her LBW out as England were 27-2 at the end of 10 overs.

Tammy Beaumont was the next to go as the young spinner Deepti Sharma got her caught out by Poonam Yadav in 14^th over. After that, England’s captain Heather Knight and Natalie Sciver played cautiously and built up a crucial partnership. Sciver was dropped by Ekta Bisht on the first ball of 25^th over and on the last ball of the same over, there was a missed chance of catch had there been a slip fielder. English team was well placed at 105-3 at the end of 30^th over.

And then came the turning point of the match (also mentioned by the English skipper in the post-match presentation) when Sciver was run-out at the bowler’s end by Ekta Bisht (the bowler) as the batter was far out of the crease at the non-striker’s end in 31^st over.

Indians were back into the match as English batters were felling one after the other like a pack of cards and within a space of next ten overs the team was all-out for just 136runs. Although skipper Knight led from front and played a brave innings remaining unbeaten in the end but could not find a support on the other side.

Player of the match – Ekta Bisht trapping the English batters in her spin web as she just missed her hat-trick but took four wickets in eight overs and doing that game changer run-out.

Other Remarkable Performances –

1. India’s Jemimah Rodrigues – 48runs innings in 58 balls
2. India’s Jhulan Goswami – 30 off 37 balls valuable innings and 8-0-19-1
3. England’s Sophie Ecclestone – 10-2-27-2
4. India’s Shikha Pandey – 8-1-21-2

Brief scorecard:

India Women – 202/10 (49.4 overs)

England Women – 136/10 (41 overs)

Result – India Women won by 66 runs

Kanika Parineeta

‘Gully’ cricket player and close observer of Indian Cricket team and it’s matches. Straight forward and still socially admirable personality. Strong belief in teamwork and possess high leadership skills.