“We didn't read the ball well”- Harmanpreet Kaur after India's loss in 2nd T20I

England now lead the 3-match T20I series 2-1.

Indian women’s team’s poor performance in the ongoing T20I series against Australia continued as they lost the second match in Mumbai on December 9 by 4 wickets. This was due to an abysmal batting performance by the Indian batters.

England captain Heather Knight had won the toss and chosen to bowl first. Charlie Dean drew first blood with the prized wicket of Shafali Verma for a duck. After that, it was a procession of wickets in Wankhede Stadium as India was bowled out for 80 in 16.2 overs.

Only Smriti Mandhana (10) and Jemimah Rodrigues (30) reached double figures as Charlie Dean, Lauren Bell, Sophie Ecclestone, and Sarah Glenn, all picked up two wickets each.

Though Renuka Singh sent back both England openers for cheap in the chase, Alice Capsey’s 25 and Nat Sciver-Brunt’s 16 was enough for England to chase down the total with 4 wickets in hand and 52 balls remaining.

With this win, England have a lead of 2-0 with one more match to go.

After the match, Harmanpreet Kaur acknowledged India’s failure in “reading the ball well”.

“We always want to play with a positive approach, but unfortunately some of us didn’t read the ball well and they also bowled well and didn’t allow us to score freely,” Harmanpreet said during the post-match presentation ceremony.

“Another 30-40 runs could have made a huge difference. Proud of my team, we fought till the last run which is good to see. After losing early wickets, we were thinking 120, but couldn’t do it. But still, our bowlers were ready to take up the challenge and bowled the way we wanted,” she added.

The third and last women’s T20I is on Sunday.

(PTI inputs)