England win by 5 wkts, seal T20 series
GUWAHATI:The first game was surrender and the plot and script in the second was no different. With batting once again letting the Indian women’s team down, the writing was on the wall and a clinical five-wicket win on Thursday gave the England team an unassailable lead in the T20 series.
England were as disciplined in the field as they were in the first game and the Guwahati crowd went home disappointed with the Indian batting after the visitors elected to bowl and restricted the hosts to 111/8. England finished on 114/5 in 19.1 overs in reply.
While she has been the star of many a win in the recent past, maybe the pressure of T20 captaincy is affecting Smriti Mandhana as she failed for the second time in the series and India could not even get a par score. Getting to 111 in itself was a struggle, and against a strong England batting line up, India had absolutely no chance.
India team management left out Veda Krishnamurthy and Arundhati Reddy (pace), bringing in left-arm spinner Ekta Bisht and debutant seamer Bharti Fulmali but the buzz was missing in the Indian dug out.
Smriti and Harleen Deol got India to a blazing start, collecting 24 runs in 2.3 overs with the skipper showing glimpses of her ability, hitting two sixes. However, when Katherine Brunt plucked her out, India also lost Harleen and Jemimah Rodrigues in quick succession. Mithali Raj, brought some stability with Deepti Sharma but when the latter was run out with India 69/4 in the 13th over, it was all over bar shouting. Even Mithali couldn’t go on as she was dismissed for 20, the highest score in the innings. India batted out the overs but a target of 112 wasn’t going to test England.
Danielle Wyatt made the difference for England. The opener’s unbeaten 64 off 55 balls (6x4) and a 47-run stand for the fifth wicket with Lauren Winfield (29 – 23b, 4x4) took the team home after a mini slump. Indian spinners bowled well and at 56/4 raised visions of an upset but Danielle was unfazed.
Maybe India could have made it a closer fight had they scored 20 more runs but in the end, the sixth consecutive T20 loss will raise concerns in the dressing room.
Brief scores: India 111/8 in 20 overs (Mithali Raj 20, Katherine Brunt 3/17, Linsey Smith 2/11) lost to England 114/5 in 19.1 overs (Danielle Wyatt 64no, Lauren Winfield 29, Ekta Bisht 2/23).