Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma etched their name in the history books during India’s victory over England in the first T20I of a five-match series on Saturday (June 28) at the Trent Bridge Cricket Ground in Nottingham by a huge margin of 98 runs. Smriti Mandhana created history as India posted a massive total of 210, which is their highest against England in the shortest format. The Indian stand-in captain Smriti Mandhana made a knock of 112 in just 62 balls in a knock that included 16 boundaries and three sixes.
The effort meant that the 28-year-old Smriti Mandhana has become the first Indian woman in history to score a century in all three formats. Previously, Harmanpreet Kaur was the only Indian female cricketer with a century in T20Is, when she hit a ton against New Zealand in the 2018 Women’s T20 World Cup in Guyana. Harman’s effort, like Smriti’,s also came as a captain.
Smriti Mandhana is only the fifth player in the world to make a century in women’s cricket in all three formats, alongside Tammy Beaumont, Heather Knight, Laura Woolvaardt, and Beth Mooney. Before Smriti Mandhana reached the three-figure mark, she put up a 77-run partnership with Shafali Verma, who was making a comeback into the Indian team after a gap of eight months, and made 20 runs in 22 balls. Smriti Mandhana had contributed 53 runs to the partnership in 30 balls.
The Indian openers wrote their names in history by setting the world record for the most 50+ partnerships in the history of the shortest format. Smriti Mandhana and Verma broke the Australian pair Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney’s record and are the first female pair to make more than 20 partnerships of more than 50 runs in the shortest format of the game. Smriti Mandhana also hit a 50+ score for the eighth time against England, which is the most by an Indian player against a single opponent.
She broke her own record of seven half-centuries against Australia. Smriti Mandhana’s effort is also the joint-highest by a player against England alongside Beth Mooney. Mooney’s nine 50+ scores against India are the only instance of a player having more 50+ scores in Women’s T20Is against one opponent. India’s victory margin of 97 runs is their highest against a full member nation as well as worst-ever defeat for England in the shortest format.
India registered a commanding 97-run win over England in the first T20I at Trent Bridge, Nottingham. This was England’s biggest-ever defeat in the shortest format of the game. Meanwhile, the match was marked by Smriti Mandhana’s historic century and debutant Shree Charani’s sensational four-wicket haul, as the visitors took a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.
Pitch Report and Toss
Pitch Report : This will be only the second Women’s T20I to be played at Trent Bridge. The pitch is expected to offer some support to the new-ball bowlers during the powerplay. The pitch at Trent Bridge in Nottingham generally offers a balanced contest between bat and ball. There could be a hint of movement for the fast bowlers with the new ball; however, the batters will likely enjoy their time in the middle as the game progresses.
The spinners might get some turn in the middle overs, especially in the latter half. As it’s an afternoon game, the pitch might get dried up towards the end. Thus, the fast bowlers could focus more on bowling cutters and slow balls in the second innings. Unless the track is very dry, expect the toss-winning side to bowl first. According to AccuWeather, the temperature at Trent Bridge in Nottingham will be around 28°C, with a real feel of exactly 28°C. Meanwhile, the wind will blow in the West direction, varying its speed between 28 to 52 km/h.
The cloud cover at Trent Bridge is expected to be around 39 per cent this afternoon. AccuWeather predicts a slim four per cent chance of precipitation; so, the first T20I between India and England Women won’t likely be interrupted by rain.
Toss : England Women skipper Nat Sciver-Brunt won the toss and chose to bowl with Sophie Ecclestone returning back in the Playing XI. India Women stand in skipper Smriti Mandhana in place of Harmanpreet Kaur bought in 2 debutants in form of Sayali Satghare and left arm spinner Shree Charani.
Smriti Mandhana’s powerful century powers India to 210 in 20 overs
After India decided to rest Harmanpreet Kaur following a head injury in the warm-up game earlier this week, Smriti Mandhana played a captain’s knock to power India’s 210. With Shafali Verma tentative on comeback, the onus was on the senior partner to lead the way and Smriti Mandhana took total charge, playing all around the ground.
In windy Nottingham, Smriti Mandhana used the conditions to her advantage, as well as the match-ups – an area where new skipper Nat Sciver-Brunt erred early on. She picked three boundaries off the new-ball bowlers before laying into the left-arm spinner Linsey Smith who bowled ahead of the experienced Sophie Ecclestone.
When the veteran did come into the attack after PowerPlay, Mandhana welcomed the spinner with a slog-sweep over midwicket straight up and then another two balls later. Smriti Mandhana’s relentless attack ensured India scored at more than nine an over for the first half, and then she switched gears in the middle overs after her 31st T20I half-century that came off 27 balls.
England thought their short-ball plan to Shafali had worked when, on 6, she chased one the pull and was given out caught behind by umpire Jacqueline Wilson. But Shafali indicated it had struck her helmet and used DRS to overturn the decision. Shafali was by far the quieter of the opening pair, scoring her first boundary when she crashed Lauren Filer’s previous ball through mid-off. She struck another off the last ball of the over, advancing down the pitch to pierce the covers with some force.
Smriti Mandhana was the picture of elegance as she started the next over with back-to-back fours off Linsey Smith and finished it with another over the head of mid-on. She raised her fifty off 27 balls, cutting Alice Capsey for a second four off her first over. Em Arlott, whose misfield had contributed to the first of those boundaries, made amends when she broke up the pair as Shafali tamely chipped to mid-off and departed for 20 in a 77-run opening stand.
Mandhana’s six off the first ball of Filer’s third over went several rows into the stands at deep backward square leg after Deol had settled straight into her work at No.3, sweeping three fours off one Smith over. Mandhana cruised to her century via consecutive fours off Lauren Bell, with Harmanpreet beaming and applauding from the dressing room balcony as her substitute soaked in the moment.
Playing her first T20I in nearly two years, Deol earned a recall in Harmanpreet’s absence. Also promoted to no. 3 on the back of her red-hot ODI form, Deol vindicated the management’s call with a 23-ball 43 laced with seven boundaries.
While Verma’s wicket could have slowed India down, Deol came in with intent and, for the better part of her stay in the 94-ball partnership with the stand-in skipper, batted at a strike-rate of 200 or more. Typically a slow starter early on, Deol showed improvement on that front when she took on the returning Linsey Smith for 13 of the 14-run over – three boundaries included – to keep the momentum going as she raced to an eight-ball 20 in no time.
That allowed Mandhana to keep her foot firmly on the gas, and she raised India’s hundred just after the halfway mark with a trademark pull over the ropes. The duo took only four overs to raise a fifty stand. After being reprieved on 25, Deol went on to make a valuable 43 before holing out to deep midwicket to give Lauren Bell the first of her three wickets.
Sophie Ecclestone returned to England for the first time since the dire Ashes tour of Australia after missing West Indies’ visit and taking a short injury and wellbeing break from domestic cricket. She watched as Mandhana slog-swept her first delivery for six and, three balls later, Mandhana sent another over the rope at wide long-on, Ecclestone conceding 19 runs in all off the over.
She switched to the Stuart Broad end for her second, Mandhana and Deol helping themselves to 12 runs from it. Deol remained strong on the sweep but she fell mistiming a slog off Bell as Arlott ran round from long-on to take a strong catch just inside the rope.
Deol’s dismissal raised the question whether Bell should have been brought back into the attack earlier to limit the damage India were inflicting, but she bowled soundly at the death. She accounted for Richa Ghosh and Jemimah Rodrigues cheaply, the former holing out to Sophia Dunkley at wide long-off and the latter for a second-ball duck when Sciver-Brunt took a brilliant catch diving low to her left at cover point.
Bell had said on the eve of the match that she was looking forward to bowling to Mandhana, her team-mate at Southern Brave, but it was Ecclestone who finally captured her wicket when called upon to bowl the final over. Mandhana smashed the first ball, a full toss, down the ground for four but miscued the second into the air over the covers and was caught by Sciver-Brunt. Ecclestone ended with 1 for 43 from three overs while Bell took 3 for 27 from four.
Her 112 made Mandhana the first Indian, and fifth woman overall, to register a hundred in all three formats internationally. It’s also India Women’s highest individual score in the format, surpassing Harmanpreet’s 103 in the 2018 World Cup against New Zealand.
Mandhana forced to stay off strike for a better part of the death overs, after getting to the hundred, is where India erred at the backend of their innings. Bell struck twice more in the space of three deliveries in the 18th over to remove quick-scoring Richa Ghosh and Jemimah Rodrigues early, and finish with highly impressive figures of 3 for 27 given the high-scoring nature of the game.
This was followed by an excellent penultimate over from Arlott for only five runs that made Mandhana desperate to hit every ball left. While the India captain did step down to loft Sophie Ecclestone for a four downtown first-ball, the spinner had instant revenge as Mandhana mistimed the next. She walked off to a standing ovation at Trent Bridge for a brilliant 112,and India ended with 210 when 225+ seemed on the cards not so long ago. Nevertheless, this is India’s second highest T20I total and the best effort against England.
Sparkling 4-fer on Debut by Shree Charani gives India a 97 runs thrashing to England.
The home side’s reply was off to the worst start imaginable when Ghosh took a stunning catch behind the stumps, reaching high to her right to pluck the ball from the air after Dunkley slashed at a swinging delivery from Amanjot Kaur at the end of the first over.
With only medium pacers at her disposal in the fast-bowling department, India threw the new ball to Amanjot Kaur who opened with a short and wide delivery to allow Sophia Dunkely to kick off the chase with a four. However, the English opener edged another similar delivery behind to close the mixed-bag of the first over.
Deepti Sharma, at the other end, struck right away to hand Danni Wyatt-Hodge a three-ball duck. While Sciver-Brunt tried to go after the bowlers, including Deepti when she returned for the final PowerPlay over, the Indian cleaned up Tammy Beaumont to leave England reeling at 58/3 at the end of the first-six overs.
Deepti Sharma had taken a blow to the helmet from a ball thrown in from the outfield as she dived to make her ground off the last ball of India’s innings. But she struck with the first ball of the next over as Danni Wyatt-Hodge sent a leading edge straight to Deol at short third. The dismissal continued a poor international season against spin for Wyatt-Hodge, who was dismissed cheaply three times by left-arm spinner Zaida James during the T20Is against West Indies.
Deepti struck again when she bowled an advancing Tammy Beaumont, back in the T20 side for the first time since touring Ireland last September and playing just her sixth international match in the format since January 2022. England’s 58 for 3 at the end of the powerplay quickly became 62 for 4 when Radha Yadav beat Amy Jones’ attempt to drive and Ghosh overcame a fumble to remove the bails in time.
Left to shoulder a huge load, Sciver-Brunt’s task was made even harder by Capsey’s tame dismissal spooning Charani straight to Arundhati Reddy at short third. Arlott, a more-than-capable batter, as she proved earlier in this domestic season shortly before being called up for England, smashed a six over deep midwicket off Radha but was caught in the covers by none other than Mandhana and England’s fate was sealed.
Sciver-Brunt brought up her fifty off 31 balls with a four off Deepti over the covers, but she was caught behind attempting to cut Charani, who also took the last wicket, Bell picking out to Rodrigues at deep midwicket. Charani finished with a memorable haul. England were expecting a tougher task than West Indies had posed when they came to face India but this match gave them the ultimate reality check.
Indian spinners kept mounting the pressure on England with Radha Yadav striking twice in her first couple of overs to have Amy Jones and Arlott walking back, and Charani getting rid of the dangerous Alice Capsey for her maiden wicket. Amidst all the doom and gloom, it was business as usual for the England captain who waged a lone battle. Her 31-ball fifty came in the 12th over but Sciver-Brunt was quickly running out of partners.
Ecclestone went for an ill-advised slog-sweep against the frugal Charani, and ended up picking Rodrigues near the ropes with perfection. The writing was truly on the wall for the hosts when the debutant had Sciver-Brunt edging behind that was given out only on review. Three balls later, Bell sent another one Rodrigues’ way as England collapsed to 113 all out of which the skipper scored 66 alone.
Presentations and Road Ahead
Nat Sciver Brunt the losing England skipper said : We didn’t bowl as well. You would like to take every catch. Something to work on next time. When you chasing 200, you have to keep going. Losing wickets gets you behind in the game. I tried to get on strike. Tried to take twos. We executed at times well with the ball. Loads of things we can take from the game. First game of the 5-match series, we will look to comeback.
Smriti Mandhana the winning Indian skipper and Player of the Match for her historic 102 said : Â It took a long time coming. I had a habit of getting out in the 70s and 80s. Me and my teammates before the series were talking, high time I get a hundred. I was timing the ball well. The way Harleen batted was great. For her to come in and the way she batted, she got the momentum going after the fall of Shafali.
The conversation we had was if we bowl against the wind, we had to bowl it slower. Tried to get Nat off the strike as much as possible. Richa’s catch diving across was brilliant. Just the start, we need to keep the momentum and get into good habits.
Smriti Mandhana’s maiden T20I hundred and Shree Charani’s four-fer on T20I debut saw India decimate England by 97 runs to take 1-0 lead in the five-match series, at Trent Bridge on Saturday (June 28).
Leading from the front, Smriti Mandhana became India’s second female centurion in the format, propelling the side to a mammoth 210 from their allotted overs, ably aided by Harleen Deol’s 43 on T20I comeback and England’s sloppiness in the field. Indian spinners took charge in the second half, claiming eight of the 10 wickets. Despite Nat Sciver-Brunt’s fighting half-century, England folded for 113 in the 15th over with Charani registering 4 for 12 from her 3.5 overs.
A maiden T20I century for stand-in skipper Smriti Mandhana powered India to an emphatic 97-run victory over England to open their five-match series at Trent Bridge. With Harmanpreet Kaur sitting out after she suffered a head knock during the warm-up game against ECB Developent XI on Wednesday, Smriti Mandhana struck three sixes and 15 fours on her way to 112 off 62 balls in a beautiful knock which only ended in the final over of India’s innings after they had been sent in.
The scrappiness in the field which haunted England in the aftermath of their T20 World Cup exit returned against an opposition that were always going to punish any mistakes but Mandhana was a class above, reaching her ton in just 51 deliveries. She joined Heather Knight, Tammy Beaumont, Laura Wolvaardt and Beth Mooney as the only women to score centuries in all three formats.
While Smriti Mandhana reprised her opening partnership with the recalled Shafali Verma, it was Harleen Deol who played the best supporting role with the bat in a 23-ball 43 as India reached 210 for 5, their second-highest total in T20Is. It was a wake-up call for England, who swept both their home white-ball series against West Indies, but were also found wanting with the bat, crumbling to 113 all-out inside 15 overs with captain Nat Sciver-Brunt playing a lone hand with 66 as debutant spinner N Shree Charani claimed 4 for 12.
India have annihilated England here. They have taken the first game by 97 runs. Led by skipper Smriti Mandhana with the bat, India managed to tally a massive 210. England lost a wicket in the first over and kept losing them at regular intervals. Only Nat Sciver-Brunt batted with some plan but others looked clueless as India played the spin card to perfection.
Shree Charani on debut picked up four wickets and put up a splendid show. Smriti Mandhana rotated her bowlers really well. That also helped India. And not to forget, Richa behind the sticks was superb as well. She took three catches and made one stumping to ensure India kept delivering those successive blows. This is England’s biggest defeat by runs in this format. The maiden T20I ton from Smriti Mandhana actually meant England were behind the 8-ball even before the chase started.
Shree Charani became the second Indian bowler to bag a four-fer on Women’s T20I debut, after Sravanthi Naidu’s 4/9 vs BAN-W at Cox’s Bazar in 2014. India have taken a 1-0 lead. Smriti Mandhana with the bat and Shree Charani with the ball stole the show. India never put a foot wrong and England would want to forget this an aberration. India had been struggling a little off late but this win will certainly boost their confidence when they face the English women in the Second T20I starting on 1st July.
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