Cricket: India Women record historic T20I series victory against England
India’s secure T20I series win with game to spare
India made history in midweek when they cruised to a commanding six-wicket victory over England at Old Trafford, which saw them take an unassailable 3-1 series lead. The result confirmed their first-ever bilateral series win over the Lionesses in England and confirmed our cricket predictions.
The home side failed to impress with the bat in the first innings and only managed to post a target of 166/7 in their 20-over allotment. Notably, they were unable to strike a single boundary between the 11th and 19th overs of the match.
Radha Yadav was the pick of the visitors' bowlers, producing a disciplined spell of 2/15 in her four overs, which strangled England’s batters in the middle overs, while Shree Charani bounced back from an expensive opening over to end with 2/30. England only scored 42 runs in the final nine overs.
In response, India’s openers Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana gave their side a solid platform, posting 56 runs inside the first powerplay. Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and Jemimah Rodrigues then recorded a 48-run partnership, with the captain not out at the end of the match. Following the victory, Yadav said:
“This time, this team, this atmosphere, it’s magical. We want to create something big going forward. We are going to dominate, no matter what.”
England are still above India in the ICC T20 Women’s team standings, but there is a case to be made that the rankings are yet to catch up with the reality on the field. Australia currently lead the way with 299 rating points, while England and India are on 276 and 264 points, respectively.
England salvage pride in final T20I
While India had already clinched the series win in game four, England were able to add some respectability to the series scoreline by securing a five-wicket victory in the final match at Edgbaston on Saturday afternoon.
Batting first, India's openers Mandhana and Rodrigues were sent back to the pavilion with just 19 runs on the board, but Verma and Kaur steadied the ship with a 66-run third-wicket partnership before the latter was dismissed by Charlie Dean.
Notably, Kaur was featuring in her 334th international match for the Women in Blue, which saw her surpass Mithali Raj as the highest-capped Indian woman in cricket history. Shafali, on the other hand, scored the second-fastest half-century for India, doing so in just 23 balls.
