Harmanpreet Kaur’s knock of 143 runs guides India to a series win over England 

Team India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur’s fiery knock of 143 runs leads India to a stunning series win over England. India Women won the second one-day international by 88 runs here at Saint Lawerence Ground, Canterbury on Wednesday.

Harmanpreet Kaur’s scintillating knock of unbeaten 143 runs off 111 balls with 18 fours and four sixes. Harleen Deo’s 58 runs, Smriti Mandhana’s knock of 40 runs, and pacer Renuka Singh’s 4 for 57 guided the Indian women’s team to victory and take an unassailable lead of 2-0 in the three-match series.

Team India’s steady start 

Earlier, England women won the toss and invited Indians to bat. India lost their opener, Shefali Verma, for 8 runs and once again in the tournament wicket-keeper batter, Yastika Bhatia came to the crease within the second over. 

Bhatia joins in form Smriti Mandhana and had a partnership of 54 runs for the second wicket. Indian Wicketkeeper got out after scoring 26 runs, caught and bowled by Dean. 

Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur joins her deputy and the partnership lasted only for 7.3 Overs and scored 33 runs before Smriti (40 runs) got a leg before Sophia Eccelstone. 

Harmanpreet Kaur dominance 

Batter Harleen Deol joins the party and had a partnership of 113 runs for the fourth wicket with the Kaur.  Deol smashed 58 runs off 72 balls before she fell to Bell. 

Pooja Vastrakar had a short stay at the crease and scored 18 runs off 16 balls.  Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and Batting all-rounder Deepti Sharma had an impressive 71 runs off 24 balls partnership for the sixth wicket allowing India to post a mammoth total of 333 runs.

The duo partnership of the first 50 runs came in just 16 balls.  Player of the match Harmanpreet Kaur thoroughly dominated the partnership with 55 runs off 15 balls and Deepthi scored 15 runs off 9 balls. India women scored 121 runs in the last ten overs.

Charlie Dean (1/38 runs) was the pick-up bowler for the England Women. She is the only bowler whose economy is below six runs per over.  

Forgettable match for debutant 

The 17-year-old left-arm spinner Freya Kemp had an impressive outing in T20Is, but in her launching match, she was in records for second most runs conceded debut bowler in Women’s ODI.  

The debutant is also registered another unwanted record against her name. The most runs conceded by an England bowler in Women’s ODIs are FG Kemp’s 82 runs and Lauren Bell’s 79 runs in the same match.

Both bowlers surpass the previous record of most runs conceded by England Women bowler by MA Reynard of 78 runs conceded against the Australia Women Team in 2000.

A miserable start to the chase 

Chasing a massive target at the Saint Lawrence Ground, the host’s team finished at 245 in 44.2 overs. England’s top three batters failed once again in the tournament. 

Renuka Singh’s double strike of Sophie Dunkley and Emma Lamb in the powerplay allowed visitors to take the driver’s seat in the early phase. 

Alice Capsey (39 runs) and Daniel Wyatt steaded the ship by having a partnership of 55 runs for the fourth wicket.  

Wicketkeeper batter Amy Jones (39 runs) joined Danni Wyatt (65 runs) and had another crucial partnership of 65 runs for the fifth wicket in the run chase.

From there on, the hosts lost control over the match and lost their final six wickets in a span of 78 runs and all out for 245 runs in 44.2 overs. 

Dayalan Hemalatha picked two wickets, Deepti Sharma and Shefali Verma shared a wicket each.

The dead rubber of the three-match series will be played at Lords, London on September 24.  The veteran pacer Jhulan Goswami will play her last ODI match on Saturday. 

 Records galore for Team India 

With the century, Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and her deputy Smriti Mandhana both share the second spot in India Women’s ODI century list.  Veteran cricketer Mithali Raj holds first place with seven centuries in WODIs.

Harmanpreet Kaur and Deepti Sharma’s partnership run rate of 17.75 is the highest for the 50-plus run stand in Women’s ODI.  

This is India’s second-highest total in Women’s ODI cricket, the highest score was 358 for 2 scored against Ireland in 2017. 

Mandhana had become the third Indian batter to cross 3,000 runs in women’s ODI cricket.

India has won a series in England for the first time since 1999.