NEW DELHI: Riding on glorious performances from Smriti Mandhana and their spinners, Indian Women edged England Women by 4 runs on Saturday in the semi-final of the Commonwealth Games. India are now assured of a medal.
Mandhana looked in sublime touch right from the word go as she drove Katherine Brunt for a boundary in the first over to kick off the carnage. In the next over, Mandhana clocked up two more fours off Alice Capsey.
Equally adept on both the off-side and leg-side, the 26-year-old pulled, drove and swept with arresting aplomb. She brought up her half-century in just 23 balls by pulling the left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone in the 6th over as India raced past 50.
Mandhana frequently used her feet and took on almost every bowler in the England team. Her 32-ball 61 included eight boundaries and three thumping sixes. The other opener, Shafali Verma, a dynamo in her own right, batted sensibly and smartly played second fiddle to her more aggressive partner. Together, they added 76 runs in 8 overs before Shafali was ripped out by Freya Kemp for 15.
In the next over, England’s Natalie Sciver dismissed Mandhana as the batter tried to play a scoop but was caught at short fine-leg. Two quick wickets dampened the momentum of the innings as England clawed their way back into the game by bowling naggingly.
Jemimah Rodrigues was the only one who oozed verve and cracked an unbeaten 44 off 31 balls to push India to 164-5 in 20 overs. The right-hander batted ingeniously and blasted an array of boundaries to all the parts of the ground.
Chasing 165, England openers – Sophia Dunkley and Danielle Wyatt – threw caution to the wind and walloped three boundaries in the 1st over, bowled by Renuka Singh, to gather 15 runs. Dunkley caned two more boundaries in the next over as England scampered to 24-0 in 2 overs.
However, off-spinner Deepti Sharma trapped her in front of the stumps in the 3rd over to end her cameo. England copped another jolt when Alice Capsey was run-out in the 7th over when the team’s score was 63. Wyatt continued to lord over medium-pacers Renuka and Meghna Singh but was castled by the off-spinner Sneh Rana for 35 in the 9th over.
In fact, India sallied back due to splendid spells from their off-spinners Deepti and Rana who not only rattled up wickets but also smothered England batters with their unerring accuracy and zip.
Though Sciver and Amy Jones put together a 54-run stand for the fourth wicket, the required run-rate kept soaring. The turning point of the match came in the 18th over when Jones was run-out for 31.
In the last over, England needed 14 runs but Rana bowled cannily and sealed the match for India by 4 runs. Ecclestone tonked a six off the last ball of the match but that wasn’t enough.
India will lock horns in the final with the winner of Australia vs New Zealand encounter.