Fifth consecutive T20I loss of Indian eves rings warning bells
The Indian women team lost the opening T20I to England women by 41 runs in Guwahati on Monday. Notably, this was India's fifth consecutive loss in this format. India had failed to win a single T20I during their tour of New Zealand last month, while they also lost in the semis of the ICC World T20 last year. Here's the match report.
The story in Guwahati
Being asked to bat first, England posted an average total of 160/4, courtesy Tamsin Beaumont's prolific 62, while Danielle Wyatt and Heather Knight hit 35 and 40 respectively, as Radha Yadav claimed 2/33. In reply, India could only manage 119/6, with Shikha Pandey being the top scorer with 23-run knock, while Katherine Brunt and Linsey Smith claimed a couple each.
Mandhana all praise for Arundhati, Shikha and Deepti
Although India lost the match by a big margin, skipper Smriti Mandhana stood by her side for giving their best. While she blamed the extra 10-15 runs given away at the end, she praised Deepti Sharma, Arundhati Reddy and Shikha Pandey for their batting performance towards the end as she rated it as a positive takeaway from this match.
India's batting continues to let the women down
In most of the cases, it has been noticed that the batting has let the Indian women down. Even in this match, the top order failed to get off to a good start, losing the top four batsmen for a single figure. Therefore, the likes of Harleen Deol, Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues and Mithali Raj need to up their ante soon.
Smriti Mandhana youngest T20I captain
Jhulan Goswami rises to number 1 in ODIs
Meanwhile, Jhulan Goswami has once again become the number one bowler in the ODIs as per the latest ICC Rankings released on Monday. According to the rankings, Jhulan is followed by Australia's Jess Jonassen in the second spot, while India's Shikha Pandey has risen to fifth. Among the batsmen, India's Mithali Raj has risen to fourth, with Mandhana at the pole position.
