London, July 10
Indian women's cricket team pulled off a team effort to seal a historic series triumph over England by winning the fourth T20 by six wickets at Old Trafford in Manchester on Wednesday.
The result gave India an unassailable 3-1 lead in the series, with the final game to be played at Edgbaston on Saturday, according to Olympics.com.
India came into the series having lost all six of their multi-game away bilateral series against England.
Opting to bat after winning the toss, England began steadily through openers Danni Wyatt-Hodge and Sophia Dunkley. However, the early momentum was broken when Shree Charani removed Wyatt-Hodge in the third over to make it 21/1.
Just as England was at 38/2 at the end of the powerplay, Dunkley appeared fluent but was fooled by Deepti Sharma for 22 off of 19. Then, at the midway point of the innings, Captain Tammy Beaumont and Alice Capsey brought the score to 68/2 with a 35-run partnership.
However, from then on, India's bowlers stifled the scoring. With Radha Yadav leading the way, England could only manage 42 runs and lost five wickets in the subsequent nine overs. Her 2/15 in four overs throughout her disciplined spell was essential to putting pressure on the middle overs.
Shree Charani also picked up a two-wicket haul for 30. Despite a 16-run flourish in the final over by Issy Wong and Sophie Ecclestone, England were restricted to 126/7 in their 20 overs.
In reply, India's openers Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana came out firing. The duo brought up the team's fifty in just 4.4 overs, making the most of the fielding restrictions.
The two put on a 56-run partnership before Shafali Verma departed in the seventh over. Smriti Mandhana returned to the pavilion two overs later.
Jemimah Rodrigues and captain Harmanpreet Kaur then put on a 48-run stand to bring India within touching distance. Kaur lost her wicket with 10 needed off 25 balls.
Rodrigues, however, remained unbeaten to guide India home to victory with three overs to spare
India had started the series with a record-breaking 97-run win in the opener at Trent Bridge - their biggest T20I victory over England. They followed it up with a 24-run win in Bristol before narrowly losing the third T20I by five runs.
The fifth and final match of the ENG-W vs IND-W T20 series will be played in Birmingham on Saturday.
Brief scores: England 126/7 in 20 overs (Sophia Dunkley 22, Radha Yadav 2/15) lost to India 127/4 in 17 overs (Smriti Mandhana 32; Sophie Ecclestone 1/20).
- ANI
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