They say fast bowlers hunt in pairs. There have been numerous instances of the pacers destroying the opposition by bowling in tandem in cricket over the years.

Indian women's cricket has one such combination in Jhulan Goswami and Shikha Pandey, the duo picking up eight wickets between them in the second game of the ICC Women's ODI Championship against England at the Wankhede here on Monday.

Goswami's 4/30 and Pandey's 4/18 powered India to a seven-wicket win to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.

Goswami and Pandey have emerged as the most successful opening pair for the Indian women's cricket team. The two have shared the new ball in 20 ODIs, picking up 57 between them with Pandey accounting for 25 sticks and Goswami, 32.

The two struck repeatedly on Monday to bowl England out for 161. The hosts met the target in 41.1 overs, losing three wickets. Opener Smriti Mandhana scored her 15th ODI fifty and shared 73 for the second wicket with comeback-woman Punam Raut (32) and 66 for the third with captain Mithali Raj (47*).

While England succumbed to the spin attack in the first ODI last Friday after choosing to bowl first, it was their capitulation to the swing of Pandey and seam of the veteran Goswami after opting to bat first on the same Wankhede strip that saw India defend successfully three days ago.

England women may have prepared hard for the Indian conditions but when it came to actual task in the middle, they came a cropper, except for middle-order batter Natalie Sciver. The right-handed England's No. 5 was the lone woman standing on Monday, making 85 to add to her 44 in the first and was unlucky in not having anyone giving her stand except for No. 11 Alex Hartley, with whom she shared 42 all by herself.

However, the day was all about Pandey and Goswami. Pandey was determined to make her selection count, especially after being left out of the ICC Women's World T20 late last year.

A regular feature in the Indian team since her debut in August 2014, Pandey has gained a lot playing alongside, and sharing the new ball, with Goswami.

"If I emulate 10 per cent of what Jhulan has, I would be doing a great job," Pandey said after the match on Monday.

It may have been surprising that Pandey was not named player of the match for her career best ODI figures. "I am above all that now," she said post match. "It doesn't really matter to me whether I am the player of the match or not. We won the series and for me that's more than enough. The way I have been able to contribute, for me, myself I am the player of the match," said the 29-year-old right-armer from Goa.

Like she did in the first ODI, Pandey struck in her first over, and innings' second, when she forced Amy Jones to err and flick straight to square leg fielder.

At the other end, Goswami forced No. 3 Sarah Taylor to drag a widish delivery onto her stumps and then induced captain Heather Knight to play on the up to give Jemimah Rodrigues a straight forward catch at short cover.

The English top-order was too cautious at the start, perhaps thinking too much of the early morning moisture that has traditionally helped the new ball operators. Pandey struck again in her opening spell of seven overs (7-1-12-2) when the otherwise explosive Tamsin Beaumont's attempted flick took the leading edge towards square leg, where Deepti Sharma ran backwards to cover quite a distance and pull off a sensational diving catch.

Pandey came back for her second spell of three overs and took two wickets with her tight middle and off-stump line to trap Nos 7 and 8, Georgia Elwiss and Katherine Brunt, leg before wicket in the space of four deliveries.

Goswami came back to polish the English batting, castling No. 10 Sophie Ecclestone through the gate and then traps the top-score Sciver leg before with the batter playing on the on side and missing the line.

With a combined tally of 8/48 in 18.3 overs, Pandey and Goswami have given hope that Indian bowling not all about spinners and their strikes in tandem.

Goswami-Pandey combo

Total ODIs: 20

Total wickets: 57

Goswami: 32

Pandey: 25

Smriti to lead

Smriti Mandhana has been confirmed as captain for the three-match T20I series against England in Guwahati next week. Mandhana steps in for regular T20 captain Harmanpreet Kaur, who has not yet fully recovered from her ankle injury, said BCCI in a statement on Monday. "She will continue her rehab at the NCA," it added.

Squad: Smriti Mandhana (C), Mithali Raj, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Taniya Bhatia (WK), Bharti Fulmali, Anuja Patil, Shikha Pandey, Komal Zanzad, Arundhati Reddy, Poonam Yadav, Ekta Bisht, Radha Yadav, Veda Krishnamurthy, Harleen Deol

Schedule: 1st T20I: March 4, 2nd T20I: March 7, 3rd T20I: March 9