With the three-match T20I series locked at 1-1, India and England head into the third game with all to play for. The hosts posted a comfortable nine-wicket victory in the first match in Durham, only for the visitors to strike back with an eight-wicket win of their own in Derby to level the series. The decider is scheduled to be held in Bristol on September 15.
England had drawn first blood in the series on a damp night in Durham, with heavy rain earlier in the day pushing the start of play back by half an hour. Put in to bat first by the hosts, India faltered after a brisk opening stand and could only post a total of 132/7 in their 20 overs. Sarah Glenn’s career-best figures of 4 for 23 helped keep the Indian batters in check before Sophia Dunkley’s unbeaten 61 off 44 balls saw England home in 13 overs with 9 wickets to spare.
India hit back with an eight-wicket win of their own in the second game, thanks to Smriti Mandhana’s sparkling 79* in the second innings. Choosing to bat first after winning the toss, England posted 142/6 in their 20 overs courtesy of a 37-ball 51 from 17-year-old Freya Kemp. Riding on the back of Mandhana’s half-century, India raced to victory in 16.4 overs with 8 wickets to spare as they levelled the series.
As such, everything is now riding on the third and final T20I in Bristol. India do not have the best record against England in England but will feel that they have the momentum coming into the game. Not only did they pick up a morale-boosting win in the previous game, but they also knocked the hosts out of the Commonwealth Games on home turf just a month ago.
Pitch Conditions
The County Ground in Bristol has been known to assist the batters and, thus, a high-scoring contest can be expected. Bowlers will be required to dig into their bag of tricks and bring out a number of variations in order to outfox the batters.
Playing Combinations for ENG-W vs IND-W
England
The hosts have gone into this series in the absence of key players like Heather Knight, Katherine Brunt, and Nat Sciver, who are missing out due to various reasons. Despite that, their replacements have stepped up admirably to make it a tightly-contested series, which is why they are not expected to make any changes going into the series decider.
Predicted Playing XI:
Sophia Dunkley, Danielle Wyatt, Alice Capsey, Amy Jones (c & wk), Maia Bouchier, Bryony Smith, Sophie Ecclestone, Freya Kemp, Sarah Glenn, Freya Davies, Lauren Bell
India
India showed faith in their playing eleven even after losing the first T20I and were rewarded with a comprehensive win. However, they might look to strengthen their top order as the pitch in Bristol is expected to favour batters. As such, we might see Dayalan Hemalatha, who has disappointed in both outings, being replaced by Sabbhineni Meghana.
Predicted Playing XI:
Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Sabbhineni Meghana, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Richa Ghosh (wk), Kiran Navgire, Pooja Vastrakar, Sneh Rana, Deepti Sharma, Radha Yadav, Renuka Singh
ENG-W vs IND-W Head-to-Head
Played- 25 | England- 18 | India- 07 |
ENG-W vs IND-W Broadcast Details
Match Timings- 11:00 PM IST on Thursday, September 15
TV- Sony Sports Network
Streaming- SonyLiv
