IND vs ENG: Charlie Dean stars as England clinch T20I series

England Women’s dominance against India continued as the visitors doubled their lead in the T20I series in a low-scoring game on Saturday, December 9. Charlie Dean returned to the England playing eleven and made an instant impact by taking two wickets. England has clinched the three-game series with being 2-0 up.

England’s dominance against India continued as the visitors doubled their lead in the T20I series in a low-scoring game on Saturday (December 9) at Wankhede in Mumbai. Dean made an instant impact on her return to the playing XI after recovering from the illness that kept her out in the last two matches. As a result of that England have clinched the three-match series with one match to spare.

On a day where the Women’s Premier League (WPL) auction made the headlines, England sent Harmanpreet Kaur’s side out to bat. Both the teams made solitary changes to their playing XIs. Heather Knight replaced left-arm seamer Mahika Gaur with the off-spinner Dean. Meanwhile, India chose to add some extra pace to their bowling attack by bringing in young Titas Sadhu for Kanika Ahuja.

India lost two early wickets on similar lines as England did in the first T20I. Dean dismissed Shafali Verma for a duck with the new ball and Smriti Mandhana was trapped in front in her second over.

From there, India’s pace with the bat was slow, thanks to England’s tight bowling in the power play. The hosts only managed to score 33 runs in the first six overs as they lost Harmanpreet and Deepti Sharma as well in the process.

The wickets didn’t stop falling for India even in the middle overs. Richa Ghosh fell victim to Sophie Ecclestone who made an acrobatic dive to catch the big hitter. Pooja Vastrakar got clean bowled by Sarah Glenn and Shreyanka Patil was caught behind off Freya Kemp.

While the home side was struggling to get runs on the board, it was Jemimah Rodrigues who tried to salvage the situation. She hit two consecutive fours off Glenn after a 40-ball boundary drought but got sent back to the pavilion by the leg spinner in the very next delivery.

India were eventually bowled out for 80 in the 17th over. For England, Lauren Bell, Dean, Glenn and Ecclestone took two wickets each. Nat Sciver-Brunt and Kemp got a wicket apiece as well in a complete bowling effort. England had a very low total to chase.

Chasing a paltry score, England kept their pace in the power play to score 49 runs. However, Renuka Singh Thakur continued her excellent form as she claimed the wickets of both the English openers in her second over.

From there, Alice Capsey accelerated the innings by playing some aggressive shots but a stunning catch by the substitute fielder Amanjot Kaur ended her knock at 25 off 21 balls.

Deepti Sharma paved the way for what could’ve been a fantastic comeback for the Indian side. She took Amy Jones’ wicket and that was followed by Freya Kemp’s golden duck. For a moment, it looked like India were coming back into the game even as they didn’t have enough runs to play with.

However, it was too little too late for India as Ecclestone was composed enough to finish the game off for her side as she took England to a four wicket win.

Dean was awarded the player of the match for incredible efforts with the ball. The third and final T20I will be played on Sunday at the same ground and India will be looking for a consolation win.

Brief Scores: India 80/10 in 16.2 overs (Jemimah Rodrigues 30; Sarah Glenn 2/13, Charlie Dean 2/16) lost to England 82/6 in 11.2 overs (Alice Capsey 25, Nat Sciver-Brunt 16; Deepti Sharma 2/4, Renuka Singh Thakur 2/26) by 4 wickers POTM: Charlie Dean