Not for the first time in the Women’s World Cup, India allowed a match to slip from their grasp, this time chasing a target.
Chasing 289, they had things under control until Smriti Mandhana played her first aerial shot and lost her wicket when she was batting confidently and was well in sight of her hundred. Had she hung on till the end, there is no doubt the hosts would have sealed a much-needed win. In the end, buckling under pressure, India lost wickets in succession and with it the match by four runs, falling to their third successive defeat.
They have now placed fourth with just four points from five games, while England, with two points, became the third team to book a berth in the semi-finals after Australia and South Africa.
The Indian bowlers had done well to restrict England to 288-8 with some excellent bowling at the death when it seemed they would race away well past the 300-run mark. And the way Mandhana and skipper Harmanpreet Kaur put on 125 for the third wicket, the home side seemed in command. But then they lost wickets at
crucial stages, with Kaur (70 in 70 balls) and then Mandhana (88 in 94 balls) playing ill-judged shots. Though Deepti Sharma notched up her second fifty of the tournament, she also departed playing a loose shot when she ought to have taken the responsibility to see the team home.
Opting to bat first, England owed their total to a superb century by veteran batter Heather Knight. She struck 109 off 91 balls before she was run out at the wrong time for her team.
It was the spin duo of Sree Charani (2-68) and Deepti (4-51) who kept the batters in check.
153
No. of wickets claimed by spinner Deepti Sharma in 117 ODIs. She is the second Indian to take 150-plus ODI wickets after Jhulan Goswami (255)
Brief scores
England 288-8 in 50 overs (H Knight 109, A Jones 56, Nat Sciver-Brunt 38; D Sharma 4-51, S Charani 2-68) beat India 284-6 in 50 overs (S Mandhana 88, H Kaur 70, D Sharma 50; Nat Sciver-Brunt 2-47) by four runs