Spinners help India achieve a historic series win
Spinners help India achieve a historic series win
India chased down a target of 127 with six wickets and 18 deliveries to spare at Manchester’s Old Trafford, seal a maiden T20I series victory of England with an unassailable 3-1 lead in the process.
India Women added another proud achievement to their growing list of successes by winning their first-ever T20I series on English soil, following up on their 3-0 ODI series sweep back in 2022. This victory couldn’t have come at a better time, with less than a year to go before they return to England to chase their maiden T20 World Cup title.
In Wednesday’s match at Old Trafford, England chose to bat first again, but India’s spinners quickly took control of the game. Radha Yadav and Shree Charani bowled brilliantly, sharing four wickets between them and giving away just 45 runs in eight overs combined. Their tight bowling kept England down to a total of 126 for 7, which looked far from challenging.
India’s opening batters, Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana, wasted no time in proving England’s score wasn’t enough. In just four overs, India had already hit more boundaries than England managed in their entire innings. The openers added 56 runs in seven overs, laying the foundation for a dominant chase.
The early wickets set the tone. Charani bounced back after being hit for a four and a six by Sophia Dunkley, getting Danni Wyatt-Hodge out in the same over. Then, Deepti Sharma struck in the sixth over, tempting Dunkley into a mistimed shot that was caught spectacularly by Radha Yadav. This wicket was a big one for Deepti, who overtook Nida Dar to become the leading wicket-taker among spinners in women's T20I history. She is now just six wickets behind Megan Schutt’s total of 151.
England looked to fight back, with Tammy Beaumont hitting a few nice shots, but her efforts were cut short when she was caught trying to hit a big shot off Radha. Charani struck again soon after, trapping Alice Capsey lbw as she tried a reverse sweep. England’s promising start faded quickly, and they slipped to 93 for 5 by the 15th over.
The middle part of England’s innings was slow and frustrating. They went 56 balls without hitting a boundary, struggling to rotate the strike and finding India’s fielding hard to get past. A misunderstanding led to Charlie Dean getting run out, while Arundhati Reddy made things even tougher with her sharp catching at long-on.
England finally showed some fight in the final overs, thanks to Sophie Ecclestone, who was playing her 100th T20I match. She hit a couple of strong boundaries, including two sixes off Deepti Sharma in the last over, helping England finish on a slightly better note with 126 runs.
Chasing that target, Shafali Verma began with an aggressive intent. She smashed Lauren Filer for three boundaries in one over and put England’s pace attack under pressure. This innings was important for her, especially since she had struggled earlier in the series and wasn’t part of the ODI squad.
Smriti Mandhana supported Shafali well, hitting clean shots of her own and helping raise a fifty-run partnership in just seven overs. Although Shafali was dismissed on 31 and Mandhana fell soon after, the chase didn’t lose direction.
India went through a quiet phase in the middle, going 40 deliveries without a boundary. Jemimah Rodrigues finally broke that streak with a clever lofted shot off Lauren Bell. Harmanpreet Kaur, though struggling to time the ball early on, managed to break free with a well-placed boundary and followed it up with another, effectively sealing England’s fate.
Harmanpreet and Rodrigues shared a steady 48-run partnership that kept things calm and controlled. Though Harmanpreet didn’t stay till the end, Rodrigues ensured India crossed the finish line without drama, ending the match with 18 balls to spare and securing a historic series win.