After suffering a 1-2 defeat in the T20I series, the Indian women’s cricket team made a brilliant comeback in the ODI series against England, as they won the first ODI by 7 wickets to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series on Sunday (September 18) in Hove.
Batting first, England posted 227/7 in 50 overs thanks to brilliant batting performances from Alice Davidson-Richards (50*) and Danni Wyatt (43) in the opening match of the ODI series on Sunday, while Deepti Sharma was the standout performer for India with a spell of 2/33.
Chasing 228 for victory, India Women lost the first wicket in the form of Shafali Verma (1), but then they played an attacking brand of cricket, as Smriti Mandhana (91), Harmanpreet Kaur (74*), and Yastika Bhatia (50) took the tourists over the line with 34 balls to spare against England Women.
After India’s big win over England, Captain Harmanpreet Kaur lauded her team for showing a lot of character and said that she was happy with her team’s efforts in the first ODI.
Harmanpreet Kaur said in the post-match presentation: “We are very happy with the support we have got, very motivating, very important win. We showed the character we were talking about in the T20Is. It was a crucial toss to win, and then there was a great bowling partnership between Meghna and Jhulan (Goswami). I think everyone who came on gave us breakthroughs.”
Hailing Deepti Sharma (2/33) for her efforts with the ball, the Indian skipper noted: “She is a very smart cricketer. She was doing what we were telling her to bowl.”
Kaur signed off by saying on India's batting, “There was a great partnership between Yastika and Smriti. Happy with the way I batted as well. Very important to get amongst the runs.”
(With ANI Inputs)
