Poonam Yadav and Ekta Bisht help India clinch thriller

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India got off to a winning start in their three-match one-day international series against England, winning a thriller by one wicket at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur on Friday 6 April.

Smriti Mandhana once again played a starring role, scoring a 109-ball 86, but the real stars were Poonam Yadav and Ekta Bisht. Yadav (4/30) and Bisht (3/49) first restricted England to 207, but their contributions with the bat was perhaps even more crucial: an unbroken 19-run stand for the final wicket ensuring India sneaked to victory in 49.1 overs to avoid a repeat of their defeat against the same opposition in the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017 final.

India initially looked set to finish the chase in good time despite the early wickets of Devika Vaidya (15) and Mithali Raj, who scored a duck in her 192nd WODI appearance – the most by any player in the format.

Mandhana got together with Harmanpreet Kaur and their 51-run stand for the third wicket ensured any momentum England had gained from those early strikes were nullified.

Kaur was sent back by Sophie Ecclestone (4/37) for a 38-ball 21, but Mandhana found support in Deepti Sharma as well, and their 64-run stand for the fourth wicket put India firmly in the driver’s seat, taking them to 166/4.

However, once Mandhana was dismissed by Elwiss, after a knock that comprised five fours and four sixes, India lost five wickets falling for just 19 runs, including those of Veda Krishnamurthy (8), Jhulan Goswami (2) and Sushma Verma (3).

India were 190/9 and at that point, the world champions were favourites.

But Yadav and Bisht turned things around. They poked and prodded, ran for their lives between the stumps, and put on the runs India needed. Bisht scored a run-a-ball 12, Poonam a run-a-ball 7, both hit a four apiece, and victory was sealed with five balls to spare.

In the morning, England opted to bat and started well, with Danielle Wyatt and Tammy Beaumont, the openers, adding 71 for the opening wicket without doing anything out of the ordinary.

Wyatt had scored a 32-ball 27, a knock with four fours and six, before she became the first of Yadav’s victims in the 12th over. Three balls later, Amy Jones followed, popping a return catch to the leggie.

At 71/2, England had to start from scratch. But with the spinners getting enough assistance to trouble the batters, the visitors could never really dominate. Their troubles deepened when Beaumont became Yadav’s third victim three overs later, once again chipping one back to the bowler. Beaumont’s 37 off 48 included six fours, but at 86/3 and with two new batters in the middle, England were in a spot.

The wickets continued to fall. Natalie Sciver scored a counter-attacking 14-ball 21 before becoming Bisht’s first scalp. Georgia Elwiss (1), Alice Davidson-Richards (9) and Anya Shrubsole (4) all fell cheaply thereafter, but all the while, Fran Wilson held things together with a 78-ball 45.

Wilson’s knock included just three fours, but by the time she was dismissed in the 46th over, the total had reached 181/8, thanks largely to her 40-run stand with Danielle Hazell. Hazell eventually was dismissed in the final over, her 52-ball 33 ensuring the total crossed the 200-mark.

It looked sufficient, till the leg-spinner and the left-arm spinner decide to have a say with the bat too.