INDW v ENGW: 3rd T20I Review- Danielle Wyatt roars as India slump to second defeat

The India Women’s team hasn’t had much to cheer ever since the start of their ODI series against Australia in Baroda where they succumbed to a whitewash by Meg Lanning’s women. The T20I series has started in a horrendous fashion for India as well as they were pinned by the Aussies in the opening game. Meanwhile, England commenced their campaign by brushing aside Australia in their opening game.

Ahead of the third game, while India gasped for breath, the English women were keen to carry forward their winning momentum. The pitch in Mumbai dished out a couple of batting paradises and the weather was bright and sunny as well. Heather Knight won the toss and elected to chase, bearing in mind the results of the previous games in the series.

Mandhana mauls England

Smriti Mandhana and Mithali Raj commenced proceedings for India with the willow. In the previous games, the pitch dished out peanuts for the bowlers to work with and it was no different this time around. The Indian opening pair blazed away and took England’s bowlers by the scruff of their neck. The powerplay well and truly belonged to India as the opening duo racked up 52 runs.

Every bowler was expensive, especially the medium pacers in Katie George and Natalie Sciver, who were taken to the cleaners by Mandhana and Raj. The partnership carried on in their own merry way and notched 100 runs in 61 balls. Most importantly, it laid the platform for India to muster a daunting total for England to trace down. The pair eventually added 129 runs.

Meanwhile, Mandhana raced to the fastest fifty by an Indian woman in T20Is when she achieved the feat in 25 balls with a graceful shot over the covers. Raj looked solid and scored 53 runs in 43 balls. The stand was eventually broken by Sciver. India lost a couple of quick wickets thereafter, however, some lusty blows by Harmanpreet Kaur and Pooja Vastrakar got India to their highest score in T20Is.

Danielle Wyatt steals the show

The run chase was undoubtedly daunting, even on a batting-friendly wicket, bearing in mind India’s quality bowling attack. However, the English batswomen hardly looked perturbed by the uphill task at hand. Bryony Smith and Danielle Wyatt stomped out and blazed away from the outset. The batswomen, especially Danielle Wyatt went hammer and tongs and took full advantage of the powerplay.

They scored 67 runs in the first six overs which somewhat took the sting out of the Indian attack. Smith perished to Jhulan Goswami, however, India still searched a breathing space as Wyatt notched a 24-ball half-century. Skipper Tammy Beaumont joined Wyatt at the crease and turned out to be an appropriate foil for the opener.

The duo further dented India’s confidence India’s confidence with a partnership of 96 runs. Meanwhile, Wyatt continued to wield her magic with the willow and notched her second T20I century in 52 balls. Meanwhile, she also became the first batsman to do so. She eventually scored 124 runs in 64 balls, which fetched another win for England. Meanwhile, India keeps languishing at the bottom of the table.

Brief Scores

India 198/4 in 20 overs; Smriti Mandhana 76, Mithali Raj 53; Tash Farrant 2/32, Sophie Ecclestone 1/29

England 199/3 in 18.4 overs; Danielle Wyatt 124*, Tammy Beaumont 35; Deepti Sharma 2/36, Jhulan Goswami 1/32

England beat India by seven wickets

Player of the Match: Danielle Wyatt