Ahead of the last and final match of the month-long tour of England, India have somehow managed to keep the multi-format series alive. The hosts are ahead 8-6, an unassailable lead in their hands. But India have a chance to draw it at least.
India drew the Test, lost the ODIs 2-1 and lost the first T20I. But with a thrilling eight-run win in the second T20I, India have given themselves a chance to end the tour with victory in the third T20I on Wednesday.
Another impressive outing in the field and tight death over bowling from the spin duo of Poonam Yadav and Deepti Sharma brought India back from the dead in the second T20 on Sunday. Now Harmanpreet Kaur and her players have a chance of enjoying their first T20 series success after the 2019 away triumph against the West Indies.
England’s self-destruction from a commanding position also helped the visitors level the series. The hosts would look to remedy the situation and not repeat the mistakes they made which means India will have to put their best foot forward.
While Shafali Verma was impressive at the top and spinners came to India’s rescue later in the game, the middle-order still needs to step up.
Shafali had got the team off to a cracking start but the incoming batters were not able to maintain the momentum despite wickets in hand.
Harmanpreet, who promoted herself to number three and got some much-needed runs, will hope to build on that after an overall poor outing in England. Pacers Shikha Pandey and Arundhati Reddy will also look to better their performance with the new ball.
After the last match, skipper Heather Knight was expectedly gutted after losing the game from a commanding position. There were as many as four run-outs in England’s innings, reflecting a panic situation when they could have sailed to a series win.
“We were in a great position and asked the batting group to be ruthless, we got to be better in the next game. We got a strong batting line-up and shouldn’t be losing that,” said Knight.
Match starts 11 PM IST.
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