India women vs England women, 2nd T20I: How the action unfolded

The England women's cricket team beat India by five wickets in the second T20I in Guwahati on Thursday.

Image Credits: Twitter/@BCCIWomen

The England women's cricket team beat India by five wickets in the second T20I at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium to clinch the three-match series with a game to spare on Thursday. 

After being asked to bat first, the Smriti Mandhana-led side failed to build partnership and lost eight wickets in quick successions before being restricted to a score of 111-8. Mithali Raj was the highest scorer for India with 20 runs. 

Katherine Brunt was the pick of the bowlers for her figures of three for 17.

In reply, England chase down the score with five balls to spare. Wyatt remained unbeaten at the crease with 64 runs off 55 balls. 

Here are the highlights:

# England women beat India by 5 wickets in second T20I to clinch series! 

# 19 runs off the last two overs, including three boundaries. Wyatt continued to remain strong at the crease as she brought up a half-century off just 44 balls. She achieved the feat by scoring a boundary off Poonam Yadav's delivery in the 15th over. England 96/4 (16 overs)

# England 77/4 (14 overs)

# Wicket! Bisht has bagged a big wicket for India in the form of Knight. The England skipper was caught leg before wicket off Bisht's fourth delivery of the 11th over. England 57/4 (11 overs)

# Skipper Heather Knight is the new batswoman in!

# Wicket! Natalie Sciver depart for one run after being caught leg before wicket off Ekta Bisht's delivery. England now require 62 runs from 11 overs. England  50/3 (9 overs)

# Natalie Sciver comes to bat for England! 

# Wicket! Poonam Yadav strikes again to remove Jones for five runs. Jones played the second delivery of the eight over straight into the hands of the India bowler to depart for 5. England 47/2 (8 overs)

# Amy Jones comes to bat for England! 

# Wicket! Poonam Yadav has provided a much-needed breakthrough to India by bowling out Beaumont for eight runs. England require 84 more runs from 15 overs. England 28/1 (5 overs)

# England made a decent start to their chase, adding 15 runs in their first two overs. Danielle Wyatt got off the mark by scoring a single off the very first ball from Shikha Pandey while  Beaumont also opened her account with one run off Ekta Bisht's third delivery of the second over. England 15/0 (2 overs)

# Innings Break! 

# England women restrict India to 111/8 in their stipulated 20 overs. 

# Fulmali walks down the crease to bat for India!

# Wicket! Another wicket for Shrubsole as Bhatia has been caught by England skipper Knight for one runs. The Women in Blue are languishing at 95 for seen after 18.2 overs. India 95/7 (18.2 overs)

# Taniya Bhatia is the new batwoman in! 

# Wicket! India are now down by six wickets. Smith added another wicket to her account by removing experienced Shikha Pandey for three runs in the 17th over. India 91/6 (17 overs)

# Shikha Pandey comes to bat! 

# Wicket!  Kate Cross has handed a big wicket to England in the form of veteran batsman Raj. The Indian player attempted to loft the ball in the air but ended up giving a simple catch to Lauren Winfield. India are 84/5 (15 overs) 

# Bharati Fulmali is the new batwoman in! 

# Wicket! India are now down by four wickets after Deepti was run out for 18 by Jones off Shrubsole's delivery in the 13th over. India 69/4 (13 overs)

# 18 runs off the last three overs. Deepti (15) and Mithali (9) are trying to steady India's innings after they lost the first three wickets in quick succession. England, on the other hand, are keen to bag some more quick wickets in order to restrict teh Women in Blue to a low total. India 62/3 (11 overs)

# India 44/3 (8 overs)

# Mithali Raj and Deepti Sharma are currently batting at the crease! 

# Wicket! India look in trouble now as they have lost Deol and Rodrigues in quick successions. Brunt first bowled out Rodrigues (two) for her second wicket of the match before Deol was caught by Sciver off Linsey Smith's delivery in the sixth over. India 35/3 (6 overs)

# Jemimah Rodrigues comes to bat for India! 

# Wicket! Katherine Brunt gives the breakthrough to England by bagging a big wicket of Smriti Mandhana. The stand-in Indian skipper, who made a solid start to her innings with two sixes, was caught by Amy Jones off Brunt's third delivery of the third over. India 26/1 (3 overs)

Breakthrough! Brunt gets Mandhana in her first over

LIVE: https://t.co/7caI1Lv3FJ#INDvENG pic.twitter.com/WGLGcC8vDf — England Cricket (@englandcricket) March 7, 2019

# India made a solid start to their innings, adding a total of 23 runs in the first two overs. Deol got off the mark by scoring a boundary off the very first ball of the over while Mandhana opened her account with a maximum in the first delivery of the second over. India 23/0 (2 overs)

# Smriti Mandhana and Harleen Deol to begin India's innings while Natalie Sciver will open the attack for England. 

# Lineups: 

India  (Playing XI): Harleen Deol, Smriti Mandhana(c), Jemimah Rodrigues, Mithali Raj, Deepti Sharma, Shikha Pandey, Taniya Bhatia(w), Radha Yadav, Poonam Yadav, Ekta Bisht, Bharati Fulmali

India Women - Playing XI #INDvENG @Paytm #T20Series pic.twitter.com/NVuhUsBEKD — BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) March 7, 2019

England (Playing XI): Danielle Wyatt, Tammy Beaumont(w), Natalie Sciver, Heather Knight(c), Amy Ellen Jones, Lauren Winfield, Katherine Brunt, Anya Shrubsole, Laura Marsh, Kate Cross, Linsey Smith

England Women - Playing XI #INDvENG @Paytm #T20Series pic.twitter.com/8ADSIibtIY — BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) March 7, 2019

# England women win the toss and elect to bowl first!

It's the 600th women's T20I and England have won the toss and opted to bowl first in Guwahati. #INDvENG pic.twitter.com/NkSB0HSTOU — BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) March 7, 2019

# India women and England women are all set to play second T20I.

GAME DAY!!

@BCCIWomen
 T20I
 Guwahati
 Barsapara Cricket Ground
 5.30am (UK)
@bbctms
https://t.co/D23CbZAFbI
#INDvENG pic.twitter.com/ZvHfq1zR9O — England Cricket (@englandcricket) March 7, 2019

A desperate India women's team would aim to snap its five-match losing streak in the second T20 International against England on Thursday.

India suffered a crushing 41-run loss to England in the first T20 of the three-match series on Sunday.

The loss, India's fifth in a row in the shortest format, meant the WV Raman-coached side has a lot of work to do before the T20 World Cup in Australia early next year.

India lost all their T20s in New Zealand after winning the ODI series and things seem to be heading in a similar direction against England.

Chasing England's competitive 160 for four in the series opener, the Indian batswomen cut a sorry figure to be restricted to 119 for six.

After England had put on a competitive total, the onus was on India's top-order to do the job but the quartet of Harleen Deol, skipper Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues and veteran Mithali Raj failed to live to the expectations, seriously hurting the team's cause.

The absence of a power-hitter like Harmanpreet Kaur in the run chase was felt immensely. 

It was a rare failure from Mandhana, that too, on her captaincy debut considering the fact that she has been sublime form off late, plundering runs at will which earned her the ICC Woman Cricketer of the Year award.

In Kaur's absence, ODI captain Mithali was expected to play a bigger role in the three T20s but she failed to seize the opportunity scoring just 7.

And come tomorrow, the 36-year-old, who is likely to retire from the shortest format before the T20 World Cup in Australia next year, would like to make a strong statement.

Veda Krishnamurthy, who made a comeback to the team, looked a pale shadow of herself, struggling to 15 off 25 balls.

Eventually, it was left to the lower-order to do the job and the likes of Shikha Pandey (23 not out), Deepti Sharma (22 not out) and Arundhati Reddy (18) did try but the asking rate was too high.

On the bowling front too, India were not up to the mark with the likes of Deepti, Arundhati and Radha Yadav leaking runs.

Medium pacer Shikha Pandey (1/18) and leg-spinner Poonam Yadav (0/18) were economical but they would need support from their colleagues to keep the English batters at bay.

On the other hand, Tammy Beaumont (62 off 57), skipper Heather Knight (40 off 20) and Danielle Wyatt (35) looked in great touch as England produced an all-round effort to get the better of the home team in the first T20. 

Squads:

India: Smriti Mandhana (captain), Mithali Raj, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Taniya Bhatia (wicketkeeper), Bharti Fulmali, Anuja Patil, Shikha Pandey, Komal Zanzad, Arundhati Reddy, Poonam Yadav, Ekta Bisht, Radha Yadav, Veda Krishnamurty, Harleen Deol.

England: Tammy Beaumont, Katherine Brunt, Kate Cross, Sophia Dunkley Brown, Freya Davies, Georgia Elwiss, Amy Ellen Jones, Heather Knight(c), Laura Marsh, Natalie Sciver, Anya Shrubsole, Linsey Smith, Lauren Winfield, Danielle Wyatt, Alex Hartley.

(With PTI inputs)