Harmanpreet Kaur-led India riding on a clinical bowling performance followed by a nervy run chase, beat Heather Knight’s England in the dead rubber third T20I of the series by five wickets. Smriti Mandhana's run-a-ball 48 followed by valuable contributions in the middle order helped the hosts win the match with six balls to spare.
Heather won the toss and opted to field first. Once again, Renuka Singh struck with the new ball. Maia Bouchier got bowled by a massive inswinger. In Titas Sadhu's first over, Sophia Dunkley hit her for a six followed by a four. In her second over, Renuka got the wicket of Sophia. In the fifth over, left-arm spinner Saika Ishaque dismissed Alice Capsey who scored just seven runs from 16 balls. After powerplay overs, England were 32/3.
While Heather struggled, Amy Jones hit a few boundaries. He hit her first six of the innings against Shreyanka Patil. At the halfway stage, they were 62/3. Saika in her third over struck twice to dismiss Amy and Danielle Gibson. Amy scored 25 runs from 21 balls including three boundaries. In the next over, Shreyanka struck twice as well to dismiss Bess Heath and Freya Kemp. In the 15th over, Sophie Ecclestone got bowled by Shreyanka.
Heather held on to one end and improved her strike rate. Charlotte Dean pushed the scoring rate as well on a tricky track. In the final over, Heather hit Amanjot Kaur for two sixes to reach her half-century from 41 balls. She was dismissed the next ball. Amanjot finished the innings with Mahika Gaur's wicket as England were bowled out for 126. Charlotte remained unbeaten for 16 off 15 balls.
India's run chase did not get off to an ideal start. Freya with her first delivery dismissed Shafali Verma who tried to make room for herself and got bowled. Smriti and Jemimah Rodrigues were cautious in the powerplay overs. Jemimah took on Sophie hitting her for two boundaries in the 10-run over. In Sophie's next over, Smriti hit the first six of the innings. At the halfway stage, India were 56/1.
Freya was brought back into the attack. Smriti hit her for a six as she looked to increase the scoring rate in the middle overs. Charlie broke the partnership in the 12th over. She scored 29 runs from 33 balls. Smriti made up for the dot balls with boundaries. Deepti Sharma departed after scoring 12 runs from 11 balls. She became Freya’s second victim of the evening. She followed it up with five wides to release the pressure.
In the 17th over, Smriti played a cover drive off Sophie and got caught inside the 30-yard circle. Her run-a-ball 48 was laced with five fours and a couple of sixes. Freya finished her quota with an economical over. Richa Ghosh's wicket added more pressure on India. But Amanjot finished the run chase in the penultimate over. She hit a couple of boundaries in her four-ball 10 as India won the match by five wickets.
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