Mumbai, Dec 9: Indian batting looked clueless and out of depth to be dismissed for their third lowest total as England notched up a four-wicket loss in the second women’s T20I to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series here on Saturday.
On a day uncapped Indian cricketers won fat pay-cheques in the Women’s Premier League (WPL) auction, Shafali Verma (0), Smriti Mandhana (10), skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (9), Deepti Sharma (0) cut a sorry figure as India were shot out for 80 in 16.2 overs.
In reply, England cantered home in 11.2 overs to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.
The final T20I is slated on Sunday.
In defence of their paltry 80, India had a horror start with a wayward Renuka Singh leaking eight runs in four wide deliveries.
Sophia Dunkley then took the attack on inexperienced Bengal seamer Titas Sidhu with two boundaries as England raced to 17 runs in first two overs.
Renuka returned to take two wickets — Sophia (9) and Danni Wyatt (0) — but with no scoreboard pressure Alice Capsey (25; 21b) and Nat Sciver-Brunt (16; 13b) seized the momentum with their counter-attacking display to take them past 50-run mark inside seven overs.
But the duo failed to take the team home as India managed to take two wickets with seven runs needed.
Deepti sharma took two in as many deliveries — Amy Jones and Freya Kemp — but it didn’t matter as Sophie Ecclestone (9) clinched the series with a four.
Their match aggregate of 162 runs was also the lowest involving the two teams.
For India, Jemimah Rodrigues was the lone bright spot with a 33-ball 30, and one of the two batters to get into double digit scores, in a bizarre display by the Indian batters. (PTI)
