DHARAMSALA, March 22: The Indian women�s team paid the price for a dismal batting performance as it lost to England by two wickets in a thrilling group league encounter of the ICC World Twenty20, here today.
Batting first, India crawled their way to 90 for 8 in 20 overs after being put into bat. None of the Indian batswomen except for Harmanpreet Kaur, who scored 26 off 25 ball, tried to force the pace against English bowlers.
In reply, England middle and lower-order survived some nervy moments before getting past the finishing line in 19 overs with two wickets remaining.
With England needing 3 in the penultimate over, skipper Mithali Raj dropped an easy catch of Anya Shrubsole off Veda Krishnamurthy�s delivery and the very next ball was hit past the point fielder much to the joy of the England dug-out.
The defeat, India�s second in three matches, also put a spanner on their chances of qualifying for the semifinal as West Indies and England both have two wins in their kitty.
SCORECARD
India: Vellaswamy Vanitha c Greenway b Knight 0, Smriti Mandhana b Shrubsole 12, Mithali Raj c Greenway b Sciver 20, Shikha Pandey c Brunt b Knight 12, Harmanpreet Kaur run out (Taylor) 26, Veda Krishnamurthy b Knight 2, Jhulan Goswami c Taylor b Shrubsole 2, Anuja Patil run out (Taylor) 13, Ekta Bisht not out 0. Extras: (B 1, LB 1, W 1) 3. Total: (8 wickets; 20 overs) 90. Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-15, 3-44, 4-47, 5-52, 6-65, 7-87, 8-90. Bowling: Heather Knight 4-0-15-3, Katherine Brunt 4-0-24-0, Anya Shrubsole 4-0-12-2, Jenny Gunn 4-0-16-0, Rebecca Grundy 2-0-14-0, Natalie Sciver 2-0-7-1.
England: Edwards c Verma b Bisht 4, Beaumont c Patil b Kaur 20, Taylor st Verma b Kaur 16, Knight st Verma b Bisht 8, Sciver c Raj b Bisht 19, Greenway lbw b Bisht 0, Wyatt run out (Bisht) 5, Brunt not out 4, Gunn run out 7. Extras: (B-1, LB-2, W-1) 4. Total: (8 wickets; 17.5 overs) 87. Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-42, 3-42, 4-62, 5-62, 6-71, 7- 79, 8-87. Bowling: Patil 4-0-22-0, Goswami 2-0-10-0, Bisht 4-0-21- 4, Gayakwad 4-1-10-0, Kaur 3.5-0-21-2. � PTI