India Women tour of England 2021 News

The Indian women’s team have performed well in chunks on their England tour so far. But whenever all three departments clicked together, it has resulted in a victory, be it the last ODI or the second T20I. With the last game of the tour remaining, the brigade led by Harmanpreet Kaur need to pull up their socks and get ready for one last battle and try their best to win, not just the T20I leg of the long format series, but also draw level on the points table with the hosts, who as of now have eight points, while the Indian side has six. Sneh Rana must be utilised properly Apart from the amazing team effort, another common factor that has been key in all of India’s best performances is Sneh Rana. The all-rounder, having saved the Test with her unbeaten 80 in the second innings in Bristol, came back to partner with skipper Mithali Raj and hit quick runs to see India through in the last ODI. In the second T20I also, it was her cool and calm last over that got India Women the much-needed victory. But in matches, where she wasn’t used properly, it resulted in a thrashing for the Indian team. For instance, in the first T20I, even after bowling just two overs and going for only 14 runs in them, the Railways player was not allowed to bowl her full quota. In that very game, Radha Yadav, Poonam Yadav, Deepti Sharma and Arundhati Reddy were all taken for plenty and had higher economy rates than the 27-year-old off-break bowler. Thus, taking a cue from it, neither only should Rana be allowed to bowl her full quota, but should also be promoted to bat up the order, especially in death overs because of her hitting abilities. England would look to avoid silly mistakes The second T20I was England Women’s to lose with just 43 required from 38 balls and eight wickets in hand. But the way they panicked at the end to lose by a big margin of eight runs was not what Heather Knight and her team are known for. They lost six wickets in just 37 runs and their lower batters in Katherine Brunt, Sophie Ecclestone and even Sophia Dunkjley on that day wasn’t able to resurrect the innings. Taking a lesson from that defeat, the English team would look to identify a batter who could play till the end as an anchor and other players would contribute with quickfire runs around her. England Women vs India Women: Match Details Match Number- 3rd T20I Date and Time: July 14, 2021, 11:00 pm IST, 06:00 pm GMT, 07:00 pm Local Venue: County Ground, Chelmsford Broadcast and Live Stream: Sony Sports Network, Sony LIV Pitch Report In the Women T20Is played at the County Ground in Chelmsford, five have resulted in a win for the chasing team while four times the team batting first have managed to defend the total. As far as recent T20s go, which are being played as part of the T20 Blast competition, teams chasing have won three out of the last four completed games. The matches haven’t been high scoring this season with the average score hanging at about 140. This gives a clear picture of what to expect in terms of assistance to the bowlers. The pitch offers a low scoring thriller and could hence help India Women in a way that they like to defend or chase low totals. Weather Forecast and Toss The weather at Chelmsford promises to be ideal for a cricket game with temperatures ranging between 21-19 degrees Celsius from 1900 hrs to 2300 hrs, the entire duration of the game. The skies would be clear and humidity wouldn’t be that high either. With the current records in mind, the team winning the toss would go for a field first approach. Team News England Women The England team is highly unlikely to change given that they played the best possible xi on that day. However, if the team would like to go for a change then they can play Anya Shrubsole in place of Freya Davies and since they already have two frontline spinners, Sarah Glenn who didn’t have a good outing with the ball could make way for Tash Ferrant. Probable XI Tammy Beaumont, Danielle Wyatt, Natalie Sciver, Heather Knight(c), Amy Ellen Jones(w), Sophia Dunkley, Katherine Brunt, Sophie Ecclestone, Mady Villiers, Anya Shrubsole, Natasha Farrant India Women Having won the previous game with the same team, India Women wouldn’t look fiddle with the winning combination, hence the same team is expected to start. Probable XI Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Harmanpreet Kaur(c), Harleen Deol, Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Richa Ghosh(w), Shikha Pandey, Radha Yadav, Poonam Yadav, Arundhati Reddy Dream XI team suggestion Tammy Beaumont, Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Natalie Sciver, Amy Ellen Jones(w), Sophia Dunkley, Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Sophie Ecclestone, Shikha Pandey, Poonam Yadav

India women’s team levelled the T20I series against England after winning the second match by 8 runs in Hove. Chasing 149 in 20 overs, the home side was restricted to 140/8. England had a disappointing start to the chase after losing Danielle Wyatt and Natalie Sciver early in the chase after the hosts were reduced to 31/2 before opener Tammy Beaumont and captain Heather Knight stitched a stand of 75 runs for the third wicket to steady the ship for the team. But Beaumont’s departure for 59 off 50 broke the shackles and the Indian team made a strong comeback. England lost wickets at regular intervals, courtesy some brilliant bowling and impressive fielding efforts and were left tottering at 137/8 to eventually suffer a defeat. In the eight wickets that went down for England, four came in the form of runout. Poonam Yadav and Deepti Sharma were the pick of the bowlers for India. While Yadav returned with figures of 2/17 in 4 overs, Sharma picked up one wicket at the cost of 18 runs in four overs. Earlier, Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma gave India a solid start after the two put 70 runs on the board for the first wicket before Mandhana departed for 20 off 16. Verma who was looking in some good touch fell short of a fifty and was dismissed just a couple of runs after Mandhana’s wicket. Later, skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and Deepti Sharma stitched a partnership of 40 runs for the third wicket. Kaur notched up a 25-ball 31 while Sharma remained unbeaten at 24 off 27 as India managed to score 148/4 in 20 overs. Harmanpreet Kaur hailed the team’s effort. “I think it was a great effort from the whole team. They were on the toes and I am very happy. We got a very good start. Two three overs, we didn't get many. Then I had to go as we thought we needed 150 at least to win. I would give credit to our bowlers. Was very important on these wickets as the ball was coming nicely on to the bat. Credit to the fielders as well for doing well. We always want to win wherever we go,” she said. England captain Knight lauded the efforts from the bowling unit while admitting that her dismissal did change the game. “I think we were very good for large proportions of the game, the way we pulled it back after that start was outstanding. Really proud of the bowlers. I couldn't get back in and it's just one of those things and it wasn't deliberate by Deepti. It was given out and that changed the game. We were in a great position and asked the batting group to be ruthless, we got to be better in the next game,” Knight said. The two teams will now play each other in the decider in Chelmsford on Wednesday.

Harleen Deol’s leap in the air to pluck a blinder of catch in the first T20i against England was a monumental occasion for the Punjab-born girl as the world recognised his feat calling it one of the best catches to have ever taken in the game of cricket. However, for her mother Charanjeet Kaur, it was a moment of reckoning and an opportunity to reflect back on the struggles and injuries Harleen had to deal with in the initial phase of her career. In an interview with The Indian Express, her mother explained that Harleen has had shown a big heart to pull out miraculous things from her early days only and she has had gone as far as playing with injured fingers in her domestic career. She said that the fact that great players and voices of the game such as Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and Nasser Hussain commenced Harleen is nothing but rewards for her hunger and immense hard work. “Harleen started playing cricket at the age of seven and I still remember her coming home from the Yadvindra Public School ground after bowling with a broken finger within months of her starting her career. Once while playing for Himachal Pradesh in Gujarat, she bowled despite an injured finger. To see her take such a sensational catch without worrying about the fall and getting praise from players like Sachin Tendulkar, V V S Laxman and Nasser Hussain apart from leaders and fans is the biggest reward for Harleen’s hard work,” said Deol’s mother Charanjeet Kaur to The Indian Express. Her coach at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Academy, Pawan Sen too has fresh memories of Harleen’s fearless approach while doing fielding practices and recalled the unusual fielding drills the all-rounder did in her early career that is coming to help her at the international level. “Like any young cricketer, Harleen had her fears of diving and sliding to stop the ball. We trained the HPCA Academy trainees to slide on wet pitch covers to end the fear of sliding and diving on the ground. It helped her. Along with her bowling and batting. She has evolved to be a very good fielder and to earn praise from the cricketing world shows her hard work,” said 51-year-old Sen. Harleen Deol plays for India Women for her batting and bowling and with that catch, she has established herself as one of the potent fielders for the women in blue.

The Indian eves managed to snatch a narrow victory in the last ODI of the three-match series. With that, they also achieved two crucial points and got to four points, two behind hosts England who were at six points at the end of the ODIs. Part of an all-format series between the two sides, the three T20Is have six points up for grabs and if India Women manage to win the series 2-1, they will level with the English side at right points each and if they are able to clean sweep, they can even win the series comprising of a Test, three ODIs and three T20Is. The Test had four points up for grabs which were shared by the two teams while the white-ball formats had two points for each game. But for India to either level or win the series, they would have to play out of their skins. The main reason for this statement is the absence of Mithali Raj, India's skipper and the leading run-scorer for the Women in Blue during the ODI series. Apart from her, no other batter was able to get a hang of English bowling. The T20I skipper Harmanpreet Kaur on the other hand has had a horrible tour so far, unable to get in the mix either with the bat or ball in hand. However, vastly experienced Kaur knows that she is just an innings away from getting back into form. Acknowledging that she promised in a pre-match virtual press conference that a different approach from her would be on display during T20Is. The team would also look to utilise the form of Sneh Rana with both bat and ball. In fact, Harmanpreet indicated that Rana alongside young Richa Ghosh would work as finishers for the team late in the batting order. When it comes to England Women, they gave got in-form Danni Wyatt back in the squad alongside spinner Mady Villiers to go with horses for course approach as they removed Kate Cross and Lauren Winfield-Hill respectively. With all to play for, the two teams would look to use this opportunity to battle it out as well as to try and test their squad in similar conditions before the 2022 Commonwealth Games, where T20I has been included for the first time. England Women vs India Women: Match Details Match No.- 1st T20I Date and Time: July 09, 2021, 11:00 pm IST, 05:30 pm GMT and 06:30 pm Local Venue: County Ground, Northampton Broadcast and Livestream in India: Sony Sports Network and Sony LIV Pitch Report The pitch in Northampton usually favours the batters and is one of the high scoring grounds. However, in six T20Is, all the matches have been won by teams batting first, suggesting that there will be something for the spinners later in the second innings. Weather Forecast and Toss While there are 25-30% chances of rain, the ground would mostly be covered by clouds hovering above and making the temperature a bit chilly. Although it's a batting track, risking rain and hence the Duckworth Lewis system wouldn't be a wise choice. Hence field first might be the preferred option. Team News England Women The English Women would be forced to make at least two changes from the team that played the last ODI as both Cross and Winfield-Hill are not in the squad. Wyatt and Villiers thus would naturally fit into the squad. However with Sarah Glenn being there already, Villiers might have to make way for Tash Ferrant, or England could be brave enough and play three front line spinners. The one choice that skipper Heather Knight would be making involved experienced Anya Shrubsole and emerging quick Freya Davies. While Davies has been in good nick, Shrubsole hasn't looked her lethal best so far. Sophia Dunkley would once again fancy her chances to let loose as soon as possible. Probable XI Tammy Beaumont, Danielle Wyatt, Heather Knight(c), Natalie Sciver, Amy Ellen Jones(wk), Sophia Dunkley, Katherine Brunt, Sophie Ecclestone, Sarah Glenn, Natasha Farrant/Mady Villiers, Freya Davies India For India, it would involve plenty of changes with Harleen Deol, Simran Dil Bahadur, Radha Yadav and Ghosh making it to the team and Mithali, Jhulan Goswami and Taniya Bhatia walking out. Indrani Roy might be ignored once again as the team is looking to play Ghosh as a wicketkeeper-batter. Probable XI Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur(c), Jemimah Rodrigues/ Harleen Deol, Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Shikha Pandey, Poonam Yadav, Radha Yadav, Richa Ghosh, Simran Bahadur Dream XI / Fantasy XI team Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana (c), Harmanpreet Kaur, Natalie Sciver (vc), Amy Ellen Jones(wk), Sophia Dunkley, Sneh Rana, Sophie Ecclestone, Poonam Yadav, Freya Davies

After missing the Test and the ODI series, Danni Wyatt, after knocking hard on the doors of the team, finally found a footing as she was named in the 14 member England Women squad to square off with India Women in the three-match T20I series. Along with Wyatt, spinner Mady Villiers, who was sent back twice in both the Test and the ODI series after being named in the initial squad, has finally made it to the squad as well. Kate Cross, who was Player of the Match in the 2nd ODI and opener Lauren Winfield-Hill are the two members of the ODI series win, who will not be a part of the T20I squad. The 30-year-old Wyatt, who has so far represented England Women in 116 T20Is, was not named in the ODI squad after her poor run in New Zealand. But post that tour, she hit three back to back fifties in the Rachael Hayhoe Flint 50 over Trophy. In her last two games, part of the Charlotte Edwards T20 trophy, the all rou5nder once again hit a 45 to make her case strong for selection. The T20is are important as far as the overall result of the long format series is concerned which is being led by England Women 6-4 currently. But If India Women manage to win the T20I series, each match of which is worth two points. England Head Coach Lisa Keightley is fully aware of that as well. "We've played some good cricket across both the Test and ODIs and we've named a strong squad for the IT20 series. It's 6-4 in the multi-format series and we're pushing hard to win,” she said post the announcement of the squad. "We probably weren't quite at our best in the third ODI so I'd like us to hit the ground running in the first IT20 and be ruthless,” she added. England Women Squad Heather Knight - Western Storm, Tammy Beaumont - Lightning. Katherine Brunt - Northern Diamonds, Freya Davies - South East Stars, Sophia Dunkley - South East Stars, Sophie Ecclestone - Thunder, Tash Farrant - South East Stars, Sarah Glenn - Central Sparks, Amy Jones - Central Sparks, Nat Sciver - Northern Diamonds, Anya Shrubsole - Western Storm, Mady Villiers - Sunrisers, Fran Wilson - Sunrisers, Danni Wyatt - Southern Vipers.

Sneh Rana has been one of the finds of for Indian Women’s team on the England tour and coach Ramesh Powar agrees to it. In fact, he went as far as to claim her as the player who could be India’s crisis-manger going into the ODI World Cup and Commonwealth Games next year. Firstly her 80 match-saving runs in the Test and then 24 crucial runs at number seven along with a partnership breaking wicket of Lauren Winfield-Hill in the third ODI that helped India win the last game on Saturday, July 3, made Rana into a charmer of some sort. “I believe Sneh Rana is the find of this England tour,” Powar said in a video uploaded by BCCI on their official Twitter handle. “I am really happy for her. Being an off-spinner myself, I can see the talent and she looks like a player tailor-made for crunch situations. She completes our search for such a player who can soak up pressure when the big matches and big tournaments arrive,” he added. The coach however also confirmed that they were not fairly confident about playing her at first but with her hard work in the nets, she made her way into the team. “The way she was bowling in Southampton, we thought we should give her a chance. It was a difficult decision no doubt, playing two off-spinners in the squad. But she played her role to the core,” Powar said. The coach was not the only one praising Rana. Even Indian skipper Mitahli Raj, whit whom the all-rounder added crucial 50 runs for the sixth wicket, was impressed by her too. She believes that Rana has the potential to become India’s finisher, a player that the national team has been in an eternal search for. “That's a slot we've always looked for somebody who has the shots to clear the field - strong shots all around. And it helps to have a player there who can also bowl. So it's good to have her on the side,” Raj said about her Railways deputy. The Indian skipper also predicted a bright future for the 27-year-old who made comeback into the side after five years having played her first lot of international games in 2016 itself. "She's definitely shown that she does have the character in her to be built into a good player. In the current era, in modern cricket, allrounders play a very important role in the composition of the team,” she said. “I'm sure that she has a bigger role to play for India in the coming years,” she added about Rana who has so far played 9 ODIs, 5 T20Is and a solitary Test for India.