Smriti Mandhana’s hundred and Shree Charani’s sensational bowling effort on debut helped India secure a crushing win over England in the first women’s T20I on Saturday, June 28.
The men’s team may have suffered a heartbreaking loss at Headingley during the recent Test match but the Indian women’s team stepped up to hand England a massive 97-run loss in the first T20I between both sides at Trent Bridge on Saturday, June 28. Stand-in skipper Smriti Mandhana led the way with her record-breaking hundred that allowed India to post a mammoth total of 210 for five in their 20 overs.
Chasing the target, the England batters, apart from Nat Sciver-Brunt, were blown away by the Indian bowlers as the hosts suffered their biggest loss in the T20I format. Sciver-Brunt scored 66 but it was Sree Charani, who was making her debut, who was the star of the show in the second innings, picking up four for 12 as England were bundled out for just 113 runs in 14.5 overs.
No Harmanpreet, no problem
India were dealt a heavy blow before the toss as captain Harmanpreet Kaur was ruled out of the contest. Harmanpreet was hit on the head during a warm-up game and the team management decided to give the star batter some rest. This meant Mandhana had to come in as the skipper for the game on a wicket that seemed like an absolute delight for the batters.
India were put into bat by England and Mandhana was the aggressor early on. She got a few boundaries going while Shafali Verma at the other end struggled for momentum. Despite Mandhana’s 31 off 19 balls in the powerplay, India got just 47 runs in the first six.
Something needed to change and it was Mandhana, who led the charge. The turning point of the match was the seventh over when the stand-in skipper decided to take Sophie Eccelstone to the cleaners with a couple of sixes and a boundary as 19 came from the ace spinner’s first six balls.
Mandhana got to her 31st T20I fifty soon after, but Shafali’s struggle in the middle came to an end, bringing in Harleen Deol to the middle. The right-handed batter was probably going to sit out the game had it not been for Harmanpreet’s niggle and she made full use of the chance.
Harleen started with some confidence and four boundaries and this helped Mandhana also to switch gears easily. Harleen got a lifeline as Wyatt-Hodge dropped a sitter and the duo cashed in on it, getting their fifty-run stand in quick time.
Mandhana was always eyeing a hundred in this format after her many attempts and finally decided Saturday was the day for her to be in the history books. The run-rate kept increasing and so was the elegance in the shots from the skipper as two boundaries were enough for her to get to the landmark and become the second Indian batter to reach the feat.
Soon after, Harleen fell for a well-made 43 off 23 balls as the wickets started to tumble. Mandhana added some more runs and was dismissed in the final over, but the damage was already done.
