1st T20I: India Women Lose To England By 41 Runs

England Women defeated India in the first of the three-match T20I series by 41 runs at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati on Monday. Put into bat first, the visitors scored 160/4 in 20 overs courtesy a 59-run stand between Tammy Beaumont and captain Heather Knight. Beaumont went on to score 62 runs off 57 balls that included nine boundaries. She stitched together an 89-run partnership with Danielle Wyatt (35 runs, 5 fours) for the first wicket. Knight took the attack to the opposition scoring 40 runs off just 20 balls. Her innings included seven boundaries.

Following a solid opening stand between Wyatt and Beaumont, England lost two quick wickets when they lost Natalie Sciver for just 4 with the score reading 95/2 in 13.1 overs. It was then up to Knight to score the bulk of runs following the good start given by the openers.

Left-arm spinner Radha Yadav picked two wickets for India by giving away 33 runs in four overs. Shikha Pandey and Deepti Sharma picked up one wicket apiece. Pandey was also the most successful bowler for India as she gave away just 18 runs in her quota of four overs. Spinner Poonam Yadav also gave away 18 runs but failed to pick any wicket.

India had a disastrous start to their run-chase when they lost openers Harleen Deol (8), captain Smriti Mandhana (2) and Jemimah Rodrigues (2) cheaply. They were reduced to 23/3 in 3.3 overs with the top-three back to the pavilion. It was then up to the middle-order batswomen Mithali Raj and Veda Krishnamurthy to recover India's innings.

However, England soon struck a body blow when Kate Cross dismissed Mithali for 7. India were further reduced to 46/5 at the halfway stage when they lost Veda.

With the required run-rate continuously soaring, Deepti Sharma's unbeaten 22 off 23 (1 four) and Shikha Pandey's unbeaten 23 off 21 (4 fours) ensured that India at least crossed the 100-run mark.

Katherine Brunt and Linsey Smith picked two wickets apiece for England. While Anya Shrubsole and Cross picked up 1 wicket each. England take a 1-0 lead in the three-match T20I series.

This was India's fifth successive loss in T20Is. They were whitewashed 0-3 by New Zealand Women recently.