INDW vs ENGW: 6th T20I, Review: India end campaign with consolation victory

The game didn’t have any significance as far as the impact on the tri-series is concerned. However, the match held importance for India as their pride was at stake having lost three matches on the trot. Harmanpreet Kaur’s girls dished out impressive performances with the willow, however, their bowlers let them down as they crashed out of the tournament with one match remaining.

Nevertheless, India brought their A game and thumped Heather Knight’s women by eight wickets. The victory was more comprehensive for the fact that they achieved the target with 26 balls to spare. This was India’s third victory against England in 13 T20 Internationals. They won the toss and elected to bat first under a bright and sunny morning at the Cricket Club of India (CCI) in Mumbai.

India claw back after the rusty start

Danielle Wyatt and Amy Jones scorched away before the latter was nipped out by Pooja Vastrakar. Wyatt and Tammy Beaumont played some scintillating strokes and laid the platform for another massive score. However, they lost both batswomen in a space of four balls, which brought India back into the game. While Wyatt fell prey to Deepti Sharma’s guile, Beaumont was dismissed by Poonam Yadav.

Thereafter, wickets fell in heaps, much to the delight of the Indians. Meanwhile, the top six batters threw their wickets away after entering the double figures, which added to the frustration of the English team. England were effective against the pacers, however, they were left stranded against the guile and trajectory of the spinners.

Anuja Patil, Poonam Yadav, Deepti Sharma and Radha Yadav picked up nine wickets between them, which took the sting out of the English batting. Knight’s women lost their last five wickets for 11 runs. Wyatt was the top run scorer for England while right-arm off-break bowler Anuja Patil finished with three wickets. Radha Deepti and Poonam shared a couple of wickets each.

Mandhana mauls the visitors

The chase wasn’t an intimidating one by any stretch of the imagination and the Women in Blue had a golden opportunity to end the series on a winning note. Smriti Mandhana has been in scorching touch in the series and has effortless been their standout batswomen. The Maharashtra-born cricketer didn’t disappoint one bit and blazed away right from the outset.

Meanwhile, Mithali struggled to get the scoreboard moving and eventually perished to Danielle Hazel’s off-breaks. Jemimah Rodrigues couldn’t survive for long either as Hazel picked up her second wicket. Meanwhile, Mandhana wasn’t willing to spare the bowlers and smashed them to all corners of the ground. She eventually brought up her fifth half-century in 32 balls.

Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur curbed her natural instincts and played a cautious hand. However, her knock turned out to be the appropriate foil for Mandhana as the duo finished off India’s run-chase in a canter. Going into the final game against Meg Lanning’s Australia, the English team would definitely be looking to get their team combination right.

Brief Scores

England: 107 all out in 18.5 overs; Danielle Wyatt 31, Amy Jones 15; Anuja Patil 3/21, Poonam Yadav 2/17

India: 108/2 in 15.4 overs; Smriti Mandhana 62*, Harmanpreet Kaur 20*; Danielle Hazel 2/17

India beat England by eight wickets

Player of the Match: Anuja Patil