Indian Women humiliate England by 270 runs at the ‘Home of Cricket’
London, July 13: The Indian women’s cricket team created history by defeating England by 270 runs in the only Test match played at Lord’s on Monday. This is India’s second biggest win in terms of runs in Test cricket. On the fourth and final day, India needed only four wickets to win, which they achieved within just one and a half hours.
Chasing a huge target of 457 runs, England’s team faltered at the score of 59/5 on the third day itself and had lost 6 wickets for only 130 runs at the end of the day’s play. On the fourth day, Monday, they started playing from 130/6, but added only 56 runs more to be reduced to 176 runs.
Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur adopted an aggressive strategy from the start of the day, using spinners and close fielders to keep England under constant pressure.
Amy Jones struggled to score 54, while Sophie Ecclestone made a fighting 50, but she lacked significant support from the other end.
The Indian spinners completely controlled the match. Sneh Rana took four wickets, shattering the backbone of England’s batting. Rana also took the final wicket when her brilliantly turning delivery dismissed Ecclestone.
Earlier, India had scored 285 runs in the first innings, with Smriti Mandhana scoring 83 and Harmanpreet Kaur scoring 58.
In reply, England were bowled out for 170, with fast bowler Kranti Gaur taking five wickets.
In the second innings, India declared at 341/7. Yastika Bhatia scored a brilliant century of 113 runs, while Smriti Mandhana scored 70 runs to give the team a strong lead.
With this victory, India registered its fourth overall win against England in women’s Test cricket, which is its most Test wins against any single team.
This was India’s third win in 10 women’s Test matches played on English soil, while the other seven matches were drawn.
Brief scores:
India: 285 and 341/7 declared
(Yastika Bhatia 113 runs, Smriti Mandhana 70 and 83 runs, Harmanpreet Kaur 58 runs).
England: 170 and 176
(Amy Jones 54 and 52 runs, Sophie Ecclestone 50 runs).
Result: India defeated England by 270 runs.
