Indian women versus England women 3rd ODI: Mithali Raj’s knock ensures Indian women a thrilling win
Thanks to a brilliant knock by Mithali Raj, the Indian women’s
team registered a thrilling win in the final One-day international played at
New Road, Worcester on Saturday.
Indian captain Mithali Raj finally won the toss and decided
to field first. It was an ideal start for the visitors as Shikha Pandey got rid
of Tammy Beaumont on a ball that kept low. The match was reduced to 47 overs a
side due to a wet outfield. Shikha Pandey bowled some lose deliveries to Heather
Knight and Winfield while Goswami did not give any runs. At the end of the
first power-play reduced to 9 overs, England women made 40 for 1.
After the field restrictions, Raj bought in Deepti Sharma
and Poonam Yadav into the attack. Winfield and Knight kept the scoreboard
ticking by taking singles. Sneha Rana was amongst action dismissing Winfield
trying to clear boundary giving a simple catch to Shikha Pandey at deep
midwicket. Winfield and Knight added 67 runs for the 2nd wicket. Nat
Sciver came to the crease and looked busy taking singles and hitting boundaries
making India’s life tough. The Indian captain Kaur struck the important blow
dismissing Heather Knight. Knight and Sciver added 42 runs for the 3rd
wicket. Sciver looked impressive with her stroke play while Amy Jones showed
intent.
A good catch by the substitute Radha Yadav ended the innings
for Amy Jones. Amy Jones and Sciver added 41 runs for the 4th
wicket. Thanks to a brilliant catch by Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma dismissed
dangerous Nat Sciver breaking the backbone of England's batting line-up. The
Indian bowlers kept on picking wickets at regular intervals to bowl out the
hosts 219 in the 47th over. Deepti Sharma took 3 for 47 while
Goswami, Pandey, Poonam Yadav, Sneha Rana, and Kaur took 1 wicket each. Sarah
Glenn was run out.
Chasing 220 runs to win, Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma
started off aggressively taking on Shurbsole and Katherine Brunt. After
smashing a boundary, Verma tried to hit another big shot but provided an easy
catch to Heather Knight. The Indian openers put on 46 runs ending the first
power play.
Jemimah Rodrigues struggled with her timing and did not look
comfortable. She survived an lbw shout given out by the umpire but on review, it
was overturned to not out taking the inside edge. Soon after, Ecclestone
grabbed the wicket of Rodrigues taking inside edge onto stumps. Mithali Raj
struggled with her timing initially while Mandhana played with intent. Sarah
Glenn grabbed the wicket of Mandhana to leave Indian women in trouble at 81 for
3.
Harmanpreet Kaur looked out of sorts in the entire innings
not able to hit boundaries while Mithali Raj showed some intent keeping the
scoreboard ticking. Kaur’s struggle ended as she was dismissed by Heather
Knight. Kaur and Raj added 50 runs for the 4th wicket. Mithali Raj
became the leading run-getter across all formats surpassing Charlotte Edwards. With
run-rate climbing, Raj took a calculated risk completing fifty off 68 balls.
Sharma provided a simple return catch to Nat Sciver.
Sneha Rana came to the crease and provided the impetus for
Indian team hitting some vital runs. Rana’s cameo ended as she tried to hit but
was castled. Rana and Raj added 50 runs for the 6th wicket.
With 6 runs needed off 6 balls, Raj smacked a boundary off
the third ball to give the Indian women’s team a thrilling 4 wicket win.
Indian women 220 for 6 in 46.3 overs (Mithali Raj 75*, Smriti
Mandhana 49, Ecclestone 2/36) beat England women 219 in 47 overs (Sciver 49,
Knight 46, Sharma 3/47) by 4 wickets.
For her unbeaten 75 not out, Mithali Raj was awarded player
of the match. The series is well poised at 6-4 in the multi-points system. Both
teams will begin the T20I series from 9th July.
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