Smriti Mandhana’s unbeaten 79 powers Indian women; T20I series level at 1-1

The Indian women made light work of the Three Lions as Smriti Mandhana spearheaded an incredible charge to aid Team India to level the 3-match T20I series against England 1-1.

It was an all-round show of brilliance from the Indians as the hosts gasped desperately for breath with very little success against the marauding visitors who had no intentions of resting until the finish line was crossed. England skipper, Amy Jones won the toss and opted to bat first. In a surprising turn of events, Deepti Sharma claimed the big wicket of Sophia Dunkley who took the game away from the Women in Blue in the opener, with Richa Ghosh effecting a lightning-fast stumping.

Renuka Singh who recently bagged significant spots in the Women’s ICC T20I rankings to climb higher up the bowling pecking order administered the following clout as Danni Wyatt holed out to Sneh Rana, opening up a portal of hope for the Indians.

The Indian captain was bang on her target as Alice Capsey was the next to follow suit. The Indian bowlers started swarming over the English players as they could barely catch a break. Freya Kemp and Maia Bouchier waged a battle of resilience, helping England to rack up 142 on the cards.

Chasing 143, Team India meant business from the opening ball as Mandhana inflicted some serious battery against the hapless English bowlers. Despite removing Shafali Verma after a well-constructed 20 and Dayalan Hemalatha for a paltry 9, England could do very little to deter the Indian aspirations.

India’s captain, Harmanpreet Kaur joined the women in blue’s most seasoned campaigner in the current side, Smriti Mandhana and the duo stitched together an incredible 69 runs stand to propel India across the finishing line with 20 balls to spare.

Mandhana stayed unbeaten for an excellent 79 which saw her whipping out 13 boundaries and also clinching the player of the match award while Kaur stayed unbeaten for 29 from just 22 balls to help India’s cause of wrapping things up early.