Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur help India beat England by 7 Wickets

Smriti Mandhana goes all guns blazing against the hosts England Women team in a successful run chase here at County Ground, Hove on Sunday. 

Wicket Keeper Batswoman Yastika Bhatia’s half-century and Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur’s unbeaten 74 hands India women a comprehensive seven-wicket win over England in the first ODI and take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

After losing the T20I series to England, Indian Women had a brilliant start to their ODI campaign. Smriti Mandhana once again starred with the bat, by scoring 91 runs off 99 balls, including 10 fours and one maximum.  Playing her last ODI Series, Jhulan Goswami was impressed with her brilliant bowling spell in the early phase of the game.

Jhulan’s top spell

Indian Women won the toss and were elected to field first in the first encounter. England’s opener failed to score runs in the power play and lost both openers Emma Lamb (12 runs) and Tammy Beaumont (7 runs) within their first ten overs. 

England Women found going tough against the veteran pace bowler Jhulan Goswami, who has not conceded a single boundary in her full quota of 10 overs. 

The hosts lost wickets in the successful interval and slipped to 94 for five wickets in the 27th over. Danni Wyatt’s score of 43 and Bowling Allrounder Alice Davidson Richards’s knock of unbeaten 50 guided the England team to cross over 200.

Sophie Ecclestone’s contributed 31 runs from 33 balls and a valuable 50 runs partnership for the eighth wicket between Richards and Charlie Dean (24 runs) take them to 227 for 7 and gave some runs to bowlers to defend the total.

Among Indian bowlers, Deepti Sharma picked up two wickets, Jhulan Goswami, Meghna Singh, Rajeshwari Gaikwad, Sneh Rana, and Harleen Deol a wicket each.  

Smriti Mandhana’s brilliance 

India lost her young opener Shefali Verma (1 run) within the second over of the innings. Wicketkeeper batter Yastika Bhatia joined southpaw Smriti Mandhana and shared 96 runs partnership between them for the second wicket before Bhatia fell after scoring a half-century to Dean.

Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur 74 not out off 94 balls then joined her deputy Mandhana at the crease and the experienced duo played effortlessly, sharing 99 runs for the third wicket before Mandhana fell 9 runs short of her sixth ODI Century to Cross.

Without losing another wicket, Harleen and Kaur with a six complete the formalities with 34 balls to spare. 

In a low-scoring encounter, England Women bowlers displayed ordinary bowling as Kate Cross two for 43 and Charlie Dean one for 45 were the only wicket takers. The Second ODI of the three-match series will be played at Saint Lawrence Ground, Canterbury on September 21.

With the win, India has drawn the first point in the new ICC Women’s Championship. Two points were added to the points table in the race towards qualification for the 2025 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka.