GUWAHATI, March 8 - The Indian women�s team will play against England in the third and final T20I at the ACA Stadium in Barsapara here tomorrow.
Despite a 2-1 ODI series win against the visitors, the hosts seem to have lost momentum and are 0-2 down.
India have been doing well in the 50-over format but they have plenty to ponder about with the T20 format especially at a time when the World Cup is scheduled for early next year. India have now suffered back-to-back T20I series defeats as they had lost their previous series in New Zealand 0-3.
In both games, whether chasing or batting first, India managed less than 120 runs which is below par against a top team like England. Harmanpreet Kaur, the regular T20 captain has not yet recovered from an injury and stand-in skipper Smriti Mandhana failed to shine with the bat scoring 2 and 12 in the first and second T20 respectively.
Asked to bat, the Indian team cut a sorry figure to be restricted to 111 for eight in 20 overs in the second match. India�s top-order comprising Harleen Deol (14), Mandhana (12) and Jemimah Rodrigues (2) failed to live up to their expectations. The middle order batters, led by Mithali Raj (20) offered some resistance but were unable to capitalise on the starts. What hurt the Women in Blue was the absence of power-hitting Harmanpreet Kaur.
�I think our bowlers bowled well to limit England and keep the competition close in the last match, another 10-15 runs from our batters it could have been a different result. They did a really good job, they delivered from their side,� Mandhana said.
�But our batters need to step up and give a good total for our bowlers to defend,� Mandhana added.
Squads
India: Smriti Mandhana (c), Mithali Raj, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Bharti Fulmali, Anuja Patil, Shikha Pandey, Komal Zanzad, Arundhati Reddy, Poonam Yadav, Ekta Bisht, Radha Yadav, Veda Krishnamurty, Harleen Deol.
England: Heather Knight (c), Tammy Beaumont, Katherine Brunt, Kate Cross, Sophia Dunkley Brown, Freya Davies, Georgia Elwiss, Amy Ellen Jones, Laura Marsh, Natalie Sciver, Anya Shrubsole, Linsey Smith, Lauren Winfield, Danielle Wyatt, Alex Hartley.
