India Women Look To Continue Winning Momentum Against England

Having won the three-match ODI series against England, the India women's team will go for a clean sweep in the third and final ODI that is to be played at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Thursday. Mithali Raj-captained India won the first ODI by 66 runs where they defended a low total. While in the second ODI, they dominated the world champions by seven wickets to take an unassailable lead of 2-0 in the series. Smriti Mandhana, who won the Women's Cricketer of the year in 2018, continued her good form with the bat and was the top-scorer for India in the 2nd ODI scoring 63 runs.    

More importantly, India grabbed four crucial points in the ICC Women's championship as the race for securing direct qualification spots for the 2021 World Cup heats up.

With two more points up for grabs, the hosts would not like to experiment by making any changes to the line-up.

India seem to have found the winning momentum under new coach WV Raman as they ticked most boxes in the last two games.

Veteran Mithali Raj, who is the leading run-getter in ODIs, has scores of 44 and 47 in the last two games. Both Mandhana and her skipper would like to continue from where they left.

Experienced Punam Raut, who made a comeback to the ODI side, justified her selection over Harleen Deol, by chipping in with a handy 32. Raut's inclusion seems to have sorted out the middle-order woes.

But she and young opener Jemimah Rodrigues, both from Mumbai, need to convert their starts into bigger scores.

The likes of Deepti Sharma, Mona Meshram and wicket-keeper Taniya Bhatia also need to chip in if the top-order falters. The Indian bowlers - both seamers and spinners - have been impressive.

Veteran pacer Jhulan Goswami (with 5 wickets in the rubber) and Shikha Pandey (6 wickets) have troubled the visitors in the first two games at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai.

England have found it difficult to face the Indian spin trio of Deepti Sharma, Poonam Yadav and Ekta Bisht. Slow left-arm orthodox bowler Bisht spun the visitors to their doom with a four-wicket haul in game one.

The struggling England side also suffered a blow after all-rounder Sophie Ecclestone was ruled out of the third ODI and remainder of the tour due to a fractured hand.

The visitors will play for pride and aim to bag the two crucial points as part of the ICC Championship before heading to the three-match T20I series in Guwahati next month.

Apart from all-rounder Natalie Sciver and skipper Heather Knight, the other batters have largely performed below par.

On the bowling front, the visiting team's pacers Anya Shrubsole, Georgia Elwiss and Kathrine Brunt have the wherewithal to trouble the hosts.

The hosts, on their current form, once again start as front runners but England could spring a surprise and prevent a clean sweep by India.

Teams (from): India: Mithali Raj (capt), Jhulan Goswami, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Taniya Bhatia (wk), R Kalpana (wk), Mona Meshram, Ekta Bisht, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Poonam Yadav, Shikha Pandey, Mansi Joshi, Punam Raut, Harleen Deol.

England Women: Heather Knight (capt), Tammy Beaumont, Katherine Brunt, Kate Cross, Sophia Dunkley, Sophie Ecclestone, Georgia Elwiss, Alex Hartley, Amy Jones, Laura Marsh, Nat Sciver, Anya Shrubsole, Sarah Taylor (wk), Lauren Winfield and Danielle Wyatt.

(With PTI inputs)

Topics mentioned in this article

India Women England Women Smriti Mandhana Mithali Raj Jhulan Goswami Anya Shrubsole Heather Knight Cricket