GUWAHATI, March 4 - Indian batswomen miserably failed to show their commitment and disappointed the crowd as they suffered a 41-run loss to England in the first T20I of the three-match series at the ACA Stadium in Barsapara here today.
It was a disappointing captaincy debut for Smriti Mandhana as she could not resist India from suffering their fifth consecutive defeat in this format of the game.
Put in to bat, the visiting team gathered a challenging total of 160 for four with Tammy Beaumont (62 off 57) and skipper Heather Knight (40 off 20) being the leading scorers. In reply, the Indian batswomen failed to apply themselves and virtually surrendered to the disciplined England attack.
Earlier, India were beaten by New Zealand in the recently concluded away series after winning the ODIs and here also things are heading in a similar direction against England in this series.
India had a disastrous start, losing their top three batswomen, including the in-form Mandhana (2). After Mandhana�s dismissal the Indian middle order came under severe pressure and lost wickets at regular intervals. Not a single pair was able to stitch a healthy partnership in order to stage a fightback in the middle order. Senior player Mithali Raj (7 off 11) too could not handle the pressure and surrendered meekly. Veda Krishnamurthy (15), who made a comeback, Deepti Sharma (22 not out), Arundhati Reddy (18) and Shikha Pandey (23 not out) did not prove to be enough in the end.
�India�s bowling should have been tighter in the death overs,� said Mandhana after the match, who became India�s youngest T20 captain at the age of 22. �We gave away 10-15 extra runs at the end. We also didn�t have a great start with the bat as well but I am happy with the way Arundhati Reddy, Shikha Pandey and Deepti Sharma batted at the end,� she added.
For England, openers Beaumont and Danielle Wyatt (35 off 34) set up a solid foundation for their team with an 89-run stand. Skipper Knight was in full flow towards the end, smashing seven fours in her 20-ball knock. The England captain Knight was all praise for the performance of her team-mates. �The wicket was good and the ball was coming nicely. I am delighted to contribute to the team win but the most important thing is the team performance,� she said. The next match will be played on March 7.
SCORECARD
England: Dannielle Wyatt c Mandhana b Pandey 35, Tammy Beaumont st Bhatia b Yadav 62, Natalie Sciver c Poonam Yadav b Yadav 4, Heather Knight c Krishnamurthy b Sharma 40, Katherine Brunt not out 4, Lauren Winfield not out 2. Extras: (B-4, LB-7, W-2) 13. Total: (For 4 wickets in 20 overs) 160. Fall of wickets: 1-89, 2-95, 3-154, 4-157. Bowling: S Pandey 4-0-18-1, D Sharma 4-0-35-1, A Reddy 4-0-45-0, R Yadav 4-0-33-2, P Yadav 4-0-18-0.
India: Harleen Deol c Beaumont b Brunt 8, Smriti Mandhana c Cross b Smith 2, Jemimah Rodrigues c Beaumont b Smith 2, Mithali Raj c Knight b Cross 7, Veda Krishnamurthy c Cross b Shrubsole 15, Deepti Sharma not out 22, Arundhati Reddy c Dunkley b Brunt 18, Shikha Pandey not out 23. Extras: (LB-4, W-18) 22. Total: (For 6 wickets in 20 overs) 119. Fall of wickets: 1-21, 2-23, 3-23, 4-41, 5-46, 6-76. Bowling: N Sciver 2-0-12-0, A Shrubsole 3-0- 24-1, K Brunt 4-0-21-2, L Smith 4-0-22-2, KL Cross 4-0-23-1, A Hartley 3-0-13-0.
