England continued their dominance in the multi-format series as they handed a comprehensive defeat to India in the third and the final T20I. England won the game by eight wickets at Chelmsford on Wednesday to win the three-match T20I series 2-1 and the multi-format affair 10-6.
1st Innings
Winning the toss and electing to bat first, India did not get off to the best of starts as they lost their swashbuckling opener Shafali Verma for a duck to Katherine Brunt. Verma registered her second duck of the T20I series as she looked to give herself some room but only to see the ball crashing o to her stumps. Her opening partner Smriti Mandhana looked in sublime touch as the southpaw with her effortless elegance scored 70 off just 51 balls, which included eight boundaries and two sixes. It was surprising to see Harleen Deol walk in at number 3, given the fact that India captain had promoted herself up the order in the second T20I and had scored useful 31. Nonetheless, Deol’s innings of 6 came to an end and Harmanpreet came in to bat well inside 10 overs. The skipper picked up from where she had left as she muscled 36 off 26, smashing five boundaries and a six. Apart from the captain and her deputy Mandhana, the rest of the middle order looked bleak, just as it had been throughout the series. Wicket-keeper Richa Ghosh provided some impetus towards the end of the innings as she played a nice little cameo of 20, hitting four boundaries. England, as always, were up to the mark with their bowling and fielding. The number 1 T20I bowler Sophie Ecclestone was the pick of the bowlers as she scalped 3-35 in her four overs, and giving her company were pace spearhead Brunt (2-27) and number 1 T20I all-rounder Natalie Sciver (1-16).
Smriti Mandhana now has the Most 50+ Scores by a left-hand batter. 🇮🇳🔥 #ENGvIND #ENGWvINDW pic.twitter.com/Zqj5ATIrxs
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) July 15, 2021
2nd Innings
Chasing 154, England started off well as the opening pair of Tammy Beaumont and Danielle Wyatt stitched a 20-run partnership, which helped the home side to settle the nerves in the big final. Deepti Sharma got rid of Beaumont but after that England did not give India even an iota of chance to come back in the game. Sciver and Wyatt joined the forces to put together 112 runs for the second wicket. Sneh Rana managed to get the better of Sciver but it was too late in the day as England needed just another 22 runs to close the match and win the series. Heather Knight and co. completed the formalities in 18.4 overs, winning the match by 8 wickets. Wyatt bagged the Player of the Match award for her match winning knock of 89 not out off just 56 balls. She hit 12 boundaries and a six in the process.
PLAYER OF THE SERIES – NAT SCIVER ❤️ #ENGvIND
📸 ESPN Cricinfo pic.twitter.com/sKrU1MSFUt— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) July 14, 2021
One of the stark differences in both the batting displays was England’s ability to rotate strike and a low dot ball percentage, while India depended on big shots and lack of seizing quick runs. Since the Indian batters did not manage to rotate strike on a regular basis, it added pressure on the batters. Another 15-20 runs more to the actual score of 153, and India may have pulled that off to not only win the T20I series but also to draw the multi-format affair.
🤝 One-off Test
🏆 ODI Series
🏆 T20I SeriesEngland win the multi-format series 10-6 against India Women 🏆#ENGvIND #ENGWvsINDW pic.twitter.com/q9RkqTZQvr
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) July 15, 2021
Brief Scores:
India 153-5 in 20 overs (S Mandhana 70; S Ecclestone 3-35) lost to England 154-2 in 18.4 overs (D Wyatt 89 not out; D Sharma 1-29) by 8 wickets
Records and Statistics from 3rd T20I between India and England
- India’s Shafali Verma now has 4 Ducks for India in women’s T20Is. She equals the record with Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur. A record Shafali Verma would not be proud of. India’s Amita Sharma, Mithali Raj, and Anuja Patil have the most 5 Ducks in T20Is. As an opener, Shafali Verma has the most number of DUCKS for India in T20Is (4).
- England’s opening bat Danielle Wyatt, who scored 89 not out in the third T20I on Wednesday is now the first women cricketer to win 3 Player of the Match awards against India in T20Is. She won it at Mumbai in 2018, Guwahati in 2019, and Chelmsford in 2021, and all of them were in successful run chases.
Highest T20I Scores in Successful run chases:
1️⃣ Danni Wyatt- 124 vs 🇮🇳
2️⃣ Chamari Athapaththu- 113 vs 🇦🇺
3️⃣ Danni Wyatt- 100 vs 🇦🇺
4️⃣ Karen Rolton – 96* vs 🏴
5️⃣ Charlotte Edwards- 92* vs 🇦🇺
6️⃣ Sarah Taylor- 90 vs 🇮🇳
7️⃣ Danni Wyatt – 89* vs 🇮🇳#ENGvIND #ENGWvINDW— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) July 15, 2021
- Wyatt’s 89 is now the 7th highest score in successful run chases. She also holds the number 1 and number 3 position in that list.
- Wyatt scored her 8th T20I half-century and is now the 5th highest English women cricketer in terms of half-centuries scored in T20Is. It is also her 3rd half-century against India in T20Is.
- England chased 154, which is now the highest Women’s T20I target chased by a team before the 20th over while losing just two or fewer wickets. The previous highest was 151 again by England against Australia at Hobart in 2014 when they lost just one wicket and completed the run chase in 17.5 overs.
- India’s Smriti Mandhana scored 70 in the third T20I which makes her the leading batter in the Indian women’s team to score 50+ away runs in T20Is. She is second to West Indies’ Stafanie Taylor, who has 9 scores of 50+ in away games in T20Is.
- Mandhana scored her half-century after 519 days. Her last T20I half-century came against Australia on February 12, 2020.
- Mandhana is the only Indian to score 50+ runs in an innings against SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand, Australia) countries in T20Is.
- Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur stitched 68 runs for the third wicket during the third T20I on Wednesday and now the duo has 7 50+ partnerships in T20Is. It is the joint highest with the duo of Smriti Mandhana and Mithali Raj, who also have 7 50+ stands together.
I am a former cricketer having represented Mumbai University at All India University level. I was a part of MCA probables for the U-19 and U-23 age group. I have been an avid cricket writer for the last five years. Currently I am pursuing my Ph.D from IIT Bombay.