Chester-le-Street, Sep 11: The Indian women’s cricket team failed to click with both the bat and ball, proving to be a no match against a dominant England side in a nine-wicket drubbing in the first T20 Internationals here.
Sent into bat by England skipper Amy Jones, the Indian batters came a cropper against leg-spinner Sarah Glenn’s four-for and were restricted to a measly 132 for seven in their stipulated 20 overs at Riverside Ground on Saturday night.
Bowling her full quota of four overs, Glenn finished with excellent figures of 4/23 and posed problems for the Indian batters throughout. With luck on her side, Sophia Dunkley raced to a 44-ball 61 to complete the chase in just 13 overs, even as India endured a forgettable night on the field in wet conditions.
All-rounder Deepti Sharma top-scored for the tourists with a 29-ball 24 and the second best score was 23 by opener Smriti Mandhana.
In between, captain Harmanpreet Kaur blazed away to 20 off 16 balls before being bowled by Glenn.
That summed up India’s batting as none of them managed to make a substantial contribution.
Chasing 133, England were off to a blistering start with both Dunkley and here opening partner Danielle Wyatt (24 off 16 balls) getting quick runs to put up 60 in only 6.2 overs.
First up, Dunkely survived a caught behind courtesy of a no-ball from Renuka Singh, then Shafali fluffed a straightforward catch at mid-off when the batter was on 15. Renuka was the unlucky bowler again.
There were a number of thick edges too, in between.
Having got the reprieves, Dunkley went on to record her highest score in the format while sharing a stand of 74 runs for the second wicket with Alice Capsey, who remained not out on a breezy 32 off 20 balls.
During her unbeaten stay in the middle, Dunkley hit eight fours and a six. India captain Harmanpreet said the side “forcefully played” in wet conditions in the first T20 International against England here, resulting in a nine-wicket defeat for the tourists.
India defeated England at the Commonwealth Games semi-final just a month ago, but the T20 series did not start well for them on Saturday night.
“We were not able to get the runs we were expecting. I just feel we forcefully played because conditions were not 100 percent fit to play,” Harmanpreet said after the match.
However, the Indian skipper backed her teammates and added that despite the wet conditions which could have resulted in injuries anytime, everyone in the team continued to give their best. (PTI)
