Skipper Mithali Raj led from the front by scoring an unbeaten 75 as India Women defeated England Women by 4 wickets in the rain-curtailed third and final Women’s One-day International on Saturday.
After being asked to bat first by skipper Raj, the home side lost opener Tammy Beaumont leg before to Shikha Pandey for a duck.
The pair of Lauren Winfield-Hill and Heather Knight added 67 runs for the second wicket before the former was caught at deep midwicket by Pandey off Sneh Rana.
Knight looked good in her knock of 46 before falling to Harmanpreet Kaur. Nat Sciver was denied a well deserved fifty by Smriti Mandhana, who pulled of a spectacular catch on the deep midwicket boundary.
Sophia Dunkley (28) and Kate Cross (16*) scored useful cameos in the end as the home side were bowled out for 219.
Deepti Sharma was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3/47.
Chasing 220, Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana got their team off to a solid start. The pair added 46 runs for the opening wicket before Kate Cross broke the stand by dismissing Shafali for 19.
Jemimah Rodrigues poor run with the bat continued form as she was bowled by Sophie Ecclestone.
Mandhana’s splendid knock ended when leg-spinner Sarah Glenn trapped her leg before wicket. Mithali Raj and Harmanpreet Kaur put on 50 runs for the fourth wicket before the latter attempted a reverse sweep and was dismissed leg before wicket.
Sneh Rana was dismissed on the last ball of the penultimate over, leaving India 6 to win off the final over.
Mithali held her nerves by remaining unbeaten on 75 off 86 balls as the visitors overhauled England’s score with 3 balls to spare.
The two teams will now clash in a three-match T20 series, beginning on July 9 in Northampton.