Toss – Won by India Women and elected to bat first
1st Innings Summary – With 2-0 invincible lead in the three match ODI series, confident Indian team had a poor start as opener Jemimah Rodrigues fell for a duck on the second ball of the match. But India recovered the early lose soon with the experience and class of Smriti Mandhana and Punam Raut. Mandhana started opening up her arms after ten overs and hit the first six of the match in 14th over. On the first ball of 24th over, Mandhana took a single to reach her half-century and with that run, the 2nd wicket partnership also reached 100 runs. Raut also reached her half-century in the next over as the scoreboard read 117-1 at the end of 25 overs and India seemed to be in a formidable position till then.
The 129-run partnership was finally broken in 29th over when Mandhana became second victim of Katherine Brunt being caught by Danielle Wyatt at deep square leg while attempting a pull shot. Brunt did another damage to the Indian side by bowling out Raut with a stunner on the last ball of the same over. So now two new batters were on the crease and all of a sudden, English players were charged up. Soon Indian batting line-up started sinking in as Brunt completed a five-wicket haul by sending back Mona Meshram and Mithali Raj in quick succession. Wicketkeeper batter Taniya Bhatia and Jhulan Goswami could not do much and Indians were reduced to 150 for 7 in 38 overs.
When it started looking difficult for India to bat the entire quota of 50 overs, young hitter Deepti Sharma and pacer Shikha Pandey showed maturity and stood tall in the time of pressure. The most valuable 47-run partnership for 8th wicket came to an end when Shikha Pandey was caught and bowled by Georgia Elwiss in 49th over. At last, India managed to put up a competitive target of 206 runs before the English side.
2nd Innings Summary – India’s most experienced bowler and Player of the match of the last game, Jhulan Goswami got an early breakthrough for her team by dismissing Amy Ellen Jones on the last ball of 5th over. Next, Taniya Bhatia took a sharp catch behind the wicket to send back a struggling Lauren Winfield. Tammy Beaumont became third victim of Goswami and soon Natalie Sciver was caught and bowled by Deepti Sharma. A string of low scores continued for Sarah Taylor as Shikha Pacdey trapped her for LBW out on the last ball of 15th over.
Just when England seemed to be in deep trouble, skipper Heather Knight and Danielle Wyatt played sensibly and started building a partnership taking their team’s scoreboard to 98 for 5 in 25 overs. Taking in Wyatt to provide the in-depth strength to the team’s batting line up proved to be right as there was 69-run partnership for sixth wicket between these two before Knight getting out on the last ball of 31st over.
Another partnership emerged between Wyatt and Georgia Elwiss as Indian bowlers loosened up their grip in the middle overs. Wyatt reached her half century in 42nd over. India desperately needed a wicket to turn this match into their favour and Shikha Pandey struck once again by removing dangerous Wyatt on the first ball of 43rd over. But the former missed a return catch chance to dismiss Elwiss in the same over and that was a game changer. Although Poonam Yadav got Brunt out in 49th over but it was too late by then as Anya Shrubsole hit a boundary to finish off the match with seven balls still remaining.
Player of the match – Katherine Brunt for doing the real damage to the middle order of Indian batting line-up with figures of 10-2-28-5 and then contributing valuable 18 runs with the bat too.
England’s @KBrunt26 now equals the record of having most number of five-fers in ODIs with @windieswomen ‘s @14anisa ?
She took 5 WIckets against India Women in the 3rd ODI at Wankhede. #INDWvENGW
Source @_hypocaust pic.twitter.com/PuWTze4lzf— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) February 28, 2019
Other Remarkable Performances –
- Smriti Mandhana – 66-run innings including eight fours and a six
- Shikha Pandey – 10-1-34-2 and 26-run innings down the order after a middle order collapse
- Geaorgia Elwiss – 10-0-29-1
- Danielle Wyatt – 56-run innings including five fours
- Jhulan Goswami – 9-0-41-3
Player of the Series – Smriti Mandhana for being the top scorer of the three match series as she made 153 runs at an average of 51 which included two half-centuries
THE RUN-MACHINE of Indian Women’s Cricket Team continues her fine form, scoring 153 runs in 3 Innings at an average of 51. She is our Player of the Series #INDWvENGW pic.twitter.com/yl9pZjpLuH
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) February 28, 2019
Brief scorecard:
India Women – 205/8 (50 overs)
England Women – 208/8 (48.5 overs)
Result – England Women won by 2 wickets
‘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.
