History has been made! India takes a 3-1 lead and has won this Vitality IT20 series against England. A controlled fielding performance and sensible batting saw India win this fourth WT20I in Manchester with six wickets and also plenty of overs to spare, leaving England to look back in anger.
First Innings
Another toss, another defeat for Harmanpreet Kaur and India, as Tammy Beaumont won the toss yet again, putting England in to bat. Expectations were high for England after Sophia Dunkley and Danni Wyatt-Hodge’s defining 137-run opening stand at the KIA Oval. But the pair wouldn’t strike gold twice, as Wyatt-Hodge returned to reality, getting caught at mid-on by Arundhati Reddy off the bowling of the in-form newcomer, Sree Charani.
Dunkley looked to follow up from her 74 in the previous game with some early boundaries but wouldn’t go too far, gliding a delivery to Radha Yadav at gully off Deepti Sharma after scoring just 22. Beaumont and Alice Capsey steadied the innings, eyeing a healthy 150+ total. Beaumont felt confident enough to go for a bigger hit, but it came back to bite her as her slog found Reddy at long-on off Yadav’s bowling, ending the skipper’s innings at just 20.
England essentially found themselves in quicksand after that wicket, with boundaries not just slowing down but completely halting. However, that wasn’t solely due to cautious batting—India’s phenomenal fielding near the ropes played a massive role. Yadav, in particular, stood out with some great diving stops. Charani picked up her fifth wicket of the day, trapping Capsey LBW, bringing her into double figures for wickets in England this summer.
Amanjot Kaur had a brief injury scare courtesy of a Paige Scholfield shot to her finger, but she recovered quickly, dismissing Amy Jones in the very same over. Scholfield’s attack ended abruptly, however, with another catch for Reddy at long-on and another wicket for Yadav.
Miscommunication sent Charlie Dean back next, as the off-spinner was left stranded and run out by a quick-thinking Charani. England’s nine-over boundary drought finally ended in the 19th over, thanks to Lancashire local Sophie Ecclestone, who added a maximum along with Issy Wong in the final over to push England’s score to a better—but still disappointing—126-7.
Second Innings
India started off looking to end the game before sundown. The attacking prowess of Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana once again dictated the game with glorious power-hitting. Verma led the charge, channeling her inner Sehwag with some hammering shots. Before anyone knew it, the pair had brought up their 50-run stand right at the end of the powerplay.
The itch to hit, however, would get the better of Verma, as her powerful pull—which would have cleared most boundaries—fell short on Manchester’s larger field, finding Capsey’s hands at deep square-leg off Dean. Mandhana soon after had a lapse in concentration herself, mistiming a swing against Ecclestone, as the ball floated to Lauren Filer at short third.
The two quick wickets saw India hit their own rut. Harmanpreet and Jemimah Rodrigues swung blindly and were beaten constantly, with the required run rate slowly creeping up. It was looking like a repeat of the chase at the Kia Oval. Fortunately, after a 40-ball boundary drought, Jemimah struck one down the ground for four.
Those runs were enough to reinvigorate India’s confidence as they began marching toward the target with renewed intent. They did get a little overzealous, losing a couple more wickets—first, Harmanpreet hit Ecclestone straight to mid-off for 26 off a fuller Wong delivery, and then Amanjot was run out rushing for a relatively unnecessary double. Jemimah, however, kept her cool in the chaos, finding clever gaps and scoring the winning runs with three overs in hand.
“We’re going to dominate no matter what”
The adage ‘catches win matches’ has never been more true than today for India, as their impressive fielding performance was the catalyst for this win—and Player of the Match Radha Yadav couldn’t agree more.
“Absolutely,” said Yadav when asked if the team had focused on fielding after the last game.
“We spoke about it in the last meeting that we have to cut down on twos and we actually did that today and we were really pumped up to do that.”
“The fielding really changed the momentum of the game, because both teams bowled well and it was the fielding that was great for us.”
With this win, India finally secured their first-ever WT20I series win over England—a historic achievement that Yadav admitted was on the team’s mind.
“The day we came here (England), we spoke about it,” she said.
“There are a total of eight matches and we will go absolutely hard, and we actually were going in that direction and really working hard. In our bowling, batting, fielding and even fitness wise, we are ticking all the boxes and this really means a lot.”
The intent in this Indian team has been terrifying to watch—a far cry from what the team was like even a year ago. Yadav gave insight into what has taken her side to the next level.
Radha Yadav speaking after the game
“The belief,” explained Yadav on what has changed.
“I don’t know about the past, but this time, this team, this atmosphere, it’s magical and we are actually (growing) into something. Like Amanjot said (after the Bristol win), this is a different team and we are going to dominate no matter what.”
“They’ve played brilliantly”
After the series defeat was confirmed, stand-in captain Tammy Beaumont couldn’t help but compliment India for their performance.
“Credit to India, they’ve played brilliantly all series,” said Beaumont.
“They really tested us and tonight we didn’t put anywhere near a complete performance. We were probably 20 runs short with the bat, I reckon 150 would have given us a chance with our bowling lineup.”
That bowling lineup did cause some trouble for the visitors, particularly in the middle overs, as India went boundary-less between the eighth and fourteenth over, scoring only 28 runs.
“Outside the powerplay, I thought we really stuck at it,” said Beaumont about her side’s bowling.
“We did pick up a few wickets and tried everything really to get back in the game, but we never really had enough runs if we’re honest.”
There was a massive Nat Sciver-Brunt-shaped hole in England’s batting as they set up their meek total of 126-7, sorely missing their star player and captain.
“Nat Sciver-Brunt is irreplaceable,” stated Beaumont.
“She’s come off the leading run-scorer in the WPL, so she would have known the bowlers we’re facing, in and out.”
“The way she plays spin, it’s really aggressive and she’s a real boundary hitter—she probably would have batted through on that wicket and got us to a score that we could have defended.”
Luckily for England, Sciver-Brunt is set to return and lead the side for the upcoming WODI series. But for now, England have a lot to learn from this series defeat. India have well and truly announced themselves, making the “challenging” English conditions seem pale and are looking to “dominate no matter what”—as Yadav said—throughout this entire English tour.
