India A led by skipper Minnu Mani are involved in a three-match T20 series against England A led by skipper Charlie Dean. India A clinched the first T20 by three runs in a nail-biting encounter to go 1-0 up in a three-match T20 series.
The India A skipper Minnu Mani won the toss and opted to bat first. Jintimani Kalita replaced Prakashika Naik in the playing 11. On the other hand, England A made three changes to their playing 11 as Maia Bouchier, Rhianna Southby, and Mahika Gaur replaced Seren Smale, Ryana MacDonald-Gay and Hannah Baker in the playing 11.
The Indian openers got off to a steady start before Mahika Gaur picked up the wicket of Dinesh Vrinda to provide the first breakthrough for England A. Disha Kasat joined wicket-keeper batter Uma Chetry at the crease and the duo stitched an 18-run partnership for the second wicket before Issy Wong picked up the crucial wicket of the wicket-keeper Uma Chetry. She was looking in ominous touch before departing for a well-made 26 runs, scoring at an impressive strike rate of 185.71.
Skipper Minnu Mani joined Disha Kasat at the crease and the duo stitched a crucial 23-run partnership for the third wicket before Kirstie Gordon picked up the big wicket of the opposition skipper Minnu Mani to provide the third breakthrough for England. She departed for a 13-ball 14. Gnanananda Divya joined Disha Kasat at the crease and the duo stitched a 17-run partnership for the fourth wicket before Mady Villiers picked up the wicket of Gnanananda Divya to provide the fourth breakthrough for her side.
Disha Kasat soon followed her back to the pavilion as India lost two wickets in two balls and found themselves at 80/5 in the 12th over of the innings. Arushi Goel joined Kanika Ahuja at the crease and the duo stitched a crucial 37-run partnership for the 6th wicket before Kirstie Gordon came back and picked up the massive wicket of Kanika Ahuja to provide the 6th breakthrough for England. India kept losing wickets at regular intervals and suffered a mini-collapse as they lost their next three wickets for just 18 runs and as a result, they eventually ended up with a total of 149/9 in their quota of overs.
Kanika Ahuja (27 off 14 balls), Arushi Goel (26 off 26 balls), and Disha Kasat (20 off 25 balls) were the top performers with the bat for India A. Kirstie Gordon (3/28), Mady Villiers (1/19), and skipper Charlie Dean (2/36) were the top performers with the ball for England A.
India A sets a target of 150 on the board.
Can England A chase this down and level the series π€#CricketTwitter #INDAvENGA | πΈ: Jio Cinema pic.twitter.com/URYUSM7Ywt
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) December 1, 2023
Chasing a target of 150, the England A openers got off to a steady start before skipper Minnu Mani picked up the big wicket of Maia Bouchier to provide the first breakthrough for India A. She departed for 27 runs scoring at a strike rate of 135. Hollie Armitage joined Grace Scrivens at the crease and the duo stitched a 26-run partnership for the second wicket before Shreyanka Patil cleaned up Hollie Armitage to provide the second breakthrough for India.
Freya Kemp joined Grace Scrivens at the crease and the duo stitched a 24-run partnership for the third wicket before skipper Minnu Mani came back and picked up the crucial wicket of Grace Scrivens who was anchoring the run chase for England A. Mady Villiers joined Freya Kemp at the crease and the duo stitched a 16-run partnership for the fourth wicket before Kashvee Gautam dismissed Mady Villiers to provide the fourth breakthrough for her side.
Freya Kemp soon followed her back to the pavilion and they found themselves at 106/5 in the 15th over of the run chase. Issy Wong joined skipper Charlie Dean at the crease and the duo stitched a 21-run partnership for the 6th wicket before skipper Charlie Dean was found short of her crease courtesy of an excellent effort from Jintimani Kalita as she came charging towards the ball and fired a direct hit to get the big wicket of the opposition skipper Charlie Dean.
2, 6, 4, 2, 4
Issy Wong finishes off in style in Wankhede!#CricketTwitter #INDAvENGA | πΈ: Jio Cinema pic.twitter.com/3VKjMJPWhx
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) December 1, 2023
Wicket-keeper batter Rhianna Southby joined Issy Wong at the crease and the duo saw their side over the line with a 24-run partnership. Issy Wong capitalised on the lifeline she received on the first ball of the 19th over of the run chase. They eventually chased down the target with four wickets in hand and seven balls to spare. Grace Scrivens (39 off 34 balls), Issy Wong (35 off 15 balls), and Maia Bouchier (27 off 20 balls) were the top performers with the bat for England A.
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Winning by 4 wickets, the series is now leveled at 1-1.#CricketTwitter #INDAvENGA | πΈ: Jio Cinema pic.twitter.com/gCtrBcQowk
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) December 1, 2023
Skipper Minnu Mani (2/29) and Shreyanka Patil (1/22) were the top performers with the ball for India A. Issy Wong was awarded the Player of the Match for her match-winning effort (35 off 15 balls) with the bat and (1/35) with the ball as the series moves on to the decider.