India-W seek defiance against England-W as fate of the series hangs in balance

With the first match of the T20I series going in favour of England, the Indian women’s cricket team will be hoping to restore parity, while Heather Knight’s team will be eager to claim an unassailable 2-0 lead. 

It was a fine display from Renuka Singh and Shreyanka Patil, who shared five wickets between them in the first T20I, but the other bowlers will need to batten up their hatches if India are to keep the England batters at bay. The batters came forth in isolated bursts of brilliance but then again when it came to chasing down a mammoth total, the kind of spark that should have been dominating the roost for India was completely missing.

England will be eager to replicate their performance in the series opener that saw them taming the hosts without breaking a sweat. Despite losing a couple of early wickets, the visitors stabilized their ship and went on a full-blown assault that left their Indian counterparts in utter agony.

This is expected to be a roller-coaster battle as the visitors will like to seal this series with a win in the 2nd T20I, but India will refuse to go down without a fight. Under the leadership of Harmanpreet Kaur, the Women in Blue will be taking the yard to keep the series alive while England will be hopeful of a wrap.

Venue Watch:

What we saw in the first match was more or less a true replica of the kind of surface that Wankhede has produced over the years. However, the second innings saw the surface getting slower which can be a new development in the scheme of things at Wankhede. Expect another high-scoring encounter to unfurl ahead of us.

Head to Head:

Matches played: 28

India – 7

England - 21

Match Details:

Match – India Women vs England Women, 2nd T20I

Venue: Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai

Date: 9th December, 2023

Time: 7:00 PM

Squads:

India: Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Smriti Mandhana (VC), Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma, Yastika Bhatia (WK), Richa Ghosh (WK), Amanjot Kaur, Shreyanka Patil, Mannat Kashyap, Saika Ishaque, Renuka Singh Thakur, Titas Sadhu, Pooja Vastrakar, Kanika Ahuja, Minnu Mani.

England: Danielle Wyatt, Alice Capsey, Sophie Ecclestone, Natalie Sciver-Brunt, Heather Knight (C), Charlie Dean, Sophia Dunkley, Mahika Gaur, Bess Heath, Amy Ellen Jones, Lauren Bell, Freya Kemp, Sarah Glenn, Danielle Gibson, Maia Bouchier.