India overcome stutter to win tri-series opener
Harmanpreet made 42* off 34 balls, striking a six off the third ball of the final over to seal a five-wicket victory in Canberra on Friday, 31 January. Heather Knight's side, propped up by their skipper's highest T20I score of 67, had done well to recover from a poor start to take the match to the last over.
It was India's second-highest successful T20I chase, only behind the 165 they chased down against South Africa in 2018. The 150/5 they finished with is their third-highest second-innings total in the format.
An unbeaten 42 from India captain Harmanpreet Kaur leads them to a five-wicket victory over England in the first match of the tri-series 🙌 #ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/3YsUTZPTW4
— ICC (@ICC) January 31, 2020
In pursuit of England's 147/7, India got off to a strong start, reaching 52/1 in the Powerplay. However, with Shafali Verma caught off the bowling of Knight for a handy 30 off 25 balls, and Jemimah Rodrigues (26) falling after four well-struck boundaries, England pulled things back.
Mady Villiers had a chance to add another twist to the finish in the 19th over; but, under pressure, she dropped Deepti Sharma in the deep. Harmanpreet, having gone at just about a run-a-ball till the 18th over, had held on through a middle-order stutter. Backing herself to finish the game, she did so with a lofted shot over cover.
Earlier, put in, England had attempted to go hard early on, but without being given any pace on the ball, they paid for it, losing four for 59 in the first 10 overs.
India opened with left-arm spin and Rajeshwari Gayakwad, playing her first T20I since June 2018, struck in her first two overs. Amy Jones drove straight to mid-off, while Danni Wyatt handed a catch to short third man.
Radha Yadav cut short a recovery from Nat Sciver, before Shikha Pandey was given the benefit of the doubt from the third umpire over a no-ball when she had Fran Wilson bowled. England, despite enjoying a few let-offs owing to lapses on the field from the Indians, were in some trouble.
Knight, then, combined with Tammy Beaumont, who came down the order at No.6, to keep the scoring rate up. The two showed themselves proficient in the reverse sweeps, and went on to add a busy 69 runs for the fifth wicket.
For India, Gayakwad, Pandey and Deepti all took two wickets each.
