India Women crashed to a crushing 8-wicket loss to their English counterparts at the Mecca of Cricket Lord’s. On a miserable rainy day, the ground staff did a tremendous job of getting the ground ready for a reduced game which England dominated from the word go and thrashed the Indians in all facets of the game to level the series 1-1.
While the hosts came roaring back in the series, the visitors were given a reality check as to where they stand and what they need to do to win the series in the deciding game on Tuesday. There are various aspects where they lost out and we will try to identify three of them in this article.
Losing wickets at regular intervals derails India’s batting momentum.
Put into bat first, India had a challenge to contend with moisture on the pitch and overcast conditions. They were expected to put up a fight but they didn’t quite do it losing wickets at regular intervals and never having momentum in the innings. Pratika Rawal went early while Smriti Mandhana tried to hold one end up and scored 42 off 51 balls. But she lost partners at the other end. Harleen Deol made 16 off 24 balls not capitalising on the start. The rest of them fell like a pack of cards as India were reduced to 98/6 at one stage. Mandhana was the 6th wicket to fall in the innings.
It’s another thing that Deepti Sharma managed to play with the tail and score an unbeaten 30 off 34 balls to give the score some respectability. But 143/8 in 29 overs was never going to be enough as batting was expected to get a tad easier as the game progressed. There was no real momentum and flow in the innings as England kept a stranglehold of the innings.
Looking ahead, India must look at how to combat tough conditions and put runs on the board. There is not only the game at Durham on Tuesday, but also the big ODI World Cup later this year in the Indian sub-continent. The Women in Blue needs to plug these areas if they want to do well and aspire of creating history. They cannot afford to lose wickets in clusters.
Losing 6 off the 8 wickets to spin a major concern for India
England decided to go in with 3 spinners in the playing XI as they drafted in Linsey Smith and went with only two pacers. Kate Cross and Lauren Filer both were left out as England made this brave call under cloudy conditions and on a pitch that was under covers. It turned out to be a masterstroke in the end, as the three spinners picked up 6 off the 8 wickets that fell for India.
This is a major concern for India as they lost wickets to spin so easily. The batters had little clue how to play the three spinners. The lady who led the way was Sophie Ecclestone who finished with 3/27 in 6 overs. She was ably supported by Linsey Smith who finished with 2/28 in 5 overs. Charlie Dean also got a wicket in her 1/31 in 6 overs. Not being able to play spin hurt India the most.
The ODI World Cup will be in the sub-continent later this year and spinners will have an important role to play. While the Indians have a plethora of spinners in their squad, their batters need to play the opposition spinners well. There will be high quality spinners in the opposition for the top teams and India may falter against them if they do not work on their weaknesses against spin. This is a major concern for the Women in Blue.
Inability to break the opening stand quickly makes it an easy chase for England
Defending such a low score was always going to be a challenging task for India but we expected the Women in Blue to put up a fight and put pressure on England by taking early wickets. But that did not happen as the English openers regained their mojo back and set up the chase with a 54-run stand for the opening wicket in 10.2 overs. Amy Jones and Tammy Beaumont got their mojo back and made it easier for the hosts.
Both looked good as India went searching for wickets to stay in the match. But they nullified the bowling and put on 54 in over 10 overs before Tammy Beaumont fell for 34 off 35 balls to Sneh Rana. Amy Jones carried on to carry her bat to remain unbeaten on 46* off 57 balls as England won the game by 8 wickets via DLS method after the game was further reduced in the second innings to 24 overs after rain intervened. India found it tough to get wickets but the bowlers had too much to do to defend this total.
Looking ahead, one would want India to put up more of a fight while defending a below par score and make a match out of it. It looked as it India had given up the match way before than they should have. Ahead of the multi-nation tournament later this year, India would like to tick all the boxes and be ready to challenge for the ultimate crown.
What Lies Ahead
England Women have made a strong comeback to keep the series alive as the series stands at 1-1. There is one more match to go and that is the decider at Riverside Ground, Chester-le-Street in Durham on Tuesday. It will be a do-or-die winner takes all match.
Can India Women dust off this loss and win at Durham to go back home with both the T20I and ODI series win? Or will England continue their newfound winning momentum and claim the ODI series after losing the T20Is? Only time will tell. The series is nicely set up and we cannot wait for Tuesday to arrive to end what has been a hard fought close series so far.
Also Read: ENG-W vs IND-W: Bruised But Not broken : Can England Rise from Ashes Against India in 2nd ODI?