India Women vs England Women, 6th match, Mumbai (BS), Mar 29 2018, India Tri-Nation Women’s T20 Series
Match Result: IND Women won by 8 wickets (with 26 balls remaining)
Player of the Match: Smriti Mandhana [62(41)]
Match Report: India’s six-match losing streak came to an end in the final league match of the tri-series due to Smriti Mandhana’s unbeaten 62 and Anuja Patil’s 3 for 21. The duo helped the hosts clinch an eight-wicket victory – their first in this home season – against England, who suffered their second consecutive loss ahead of the final against Australia on March 31.
Smashing her fifth half-century in six matches, Mandhana helped chase down India’s 108-run target with 26 balls to spare. Mithali Raj scrapped to a 15-ball six before handling a simple catch to Alice Davidson-Richards at mid-off.
England’s poor effort with the ball began with Tash Farrant conceding nine runs off the opening over of the chase. Mandhana, meanwhile, flayed left-arm medium-pacer Katie George for three consecutive fours in the second over before being dropped on 13 by Tammy Beaumont off the sixth delivery.
Mandhana then put on a solid display, piercing the point and cover-point gap with precision, peppering the square leg boundary and plundering the covers with brilliant accuracy. In captain Harmanpreet Kaur’s company, she took India to 49 for 2 at the end of the Powerplay and crunched eight fours and a six en route to her 41-ball flourish, including a back-foot punch for four past square that brought up her fifty. Harmanpreet struck 20 off 31 and clobbered two fours.
Heather Knight | England captain: “Had a bit of a tweak in my hamstring when I was batting, hopefully it would get better. We talked a lot about it yesterday about using the powerplay, Dannie started off well but we couldn’t carry on. Also batting out our 20 overs didn’t really help us either. The wicket was a little bit slower but we need to prolong a few partnerships in the middle overs. This (performance today) isn’t much of a concern, we’ve used this tour to give others an opportunity, but Saturday would be a different outing.”
Harmanpreet Kaur | India captain: This win would play a big role as we’ve won after eight games. It was a great effort by us in the field and that is what we spoke about; glad to have executed it well. I always enjoy my fielding, but everyone contributed today. We watched the game yesterday (England vs Australia) and realized that the pitch was a lot slower.
We knew we had to hit our right lengths as the ball wasn’t coming onto the bat easily. When England were batting the ball wasn’t coming on as expected and we realized that we can’t go for big shots. I am very happy with the team’s performance. ODIs are something which we always enjoy and are looking forward to it.
Smriti Mandhana | Player of the Match: Whenever I get a chance I look to contribute to the team’s cause and give my hundred percent. I thought Sciver would go for that reverse sweep and that’s why bowled it a bit fuller. Whether it is T20s or ODIs, I just look to perform, but if I need to come into the ODI side I need to ensure that I spend more time in the middle.
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