The India vs England second T20I match, played on July 11 in Hove, was a perfect nail-bitter. After batting moderately well in the first inning, Indian bowlers managed to stop the English batters from leveling the total and won the match by a very small margin of eight runs.
England won the toss and opted to field first. As soon as the match started, the Indian openers Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana started hitting the ball beautifully and gave India the kind of start that they needed to put a competitive total on board. Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana made a 68-run partnership for the opening stand, where Verma contributed with 48 runs and Mandhana 20 runs.
After the first wicket of Smriti Mandhana fell in the 9th over, the Indian skipper stepped out on the field to get some action going. Kaur made a decent score of 31 runs from 25 balls which included two fours and two sixes. After a streak of low performances, yesterday was a good day for Kaur in terms of runs scored. Deepti Sharma too contributed a well-made 24 runs to the total of 148 runs.
English batters stepped on the field with only one mission but the Indian bowlers didn’t let any of their mission succeed. England was looking rather comfortable at 52-2 even after losing Danni Wyatt and deputy Nat Sciver early. There were a whole lot of run-outs yesterday in the England batting inning, England lost deputy Nat Sciver, skipper Heather Knight and star youngster Sophia Dunkley due to run-outs.
Knight and Beaumont got out in the 14th over, which weakened the hosts who still needed 43 runs off 36 balls. All of this happened on the balls of Deepti Sharma. She was the one who got Beaumont out first and helped India get rid of Knight by the run-out.
Deepti was awarded the Player of the Match trophy for this match for her brilliant bowling and fielding which helped India get rid of Knight and Dunkley within the span of two overs.
The series decider will be played on July 14 at the County Ground in Chelmsford. India will have to win the next match to win the multi-format series which currently stands at 8-6 in England’s favor.
Watch Highlights of 2nd T20I between India and England here:
Highlights of that thrilling India-England clash during 2nd T20I 👇
You don’t want to miss this: #ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/A7Wy7ZnT4h
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) July 12, 2021