In a 29-over innings, where they would have been better served treating it as an extended T20, India missed a trick in selection and also never really got a rhythm going in their batting effort at Lord’s on Saturday. England, after asking India to bat, managed to restrict Harmanpreet Kaur’s side to 143/8. In response, England were cruising towards the target when a spell of rain after 18.4 overs threatened to stop their charge to an easy win with 8 balls still needed to constitute a complete game. But the players got back out after a delay, with the innings further reduced to 24 hours, and England got the required runs in time (116/2) to level the ODI series 1-1 with one match left to play.
The first ball of the match, after all the hours waiting for the start of play, said a story. It was the juiciest of full tosses from Lauren Bell, and India opener Pratika Rawal gently tapped it straight to a fielder on the off side. It is not always easy to get warmed up straight away after a delayed start, to get the blood flow going, but that tame start somewhat set the tone for India’s powerplay, which, ironically, lacked any power. Pratika was quickly dismissed in the second over after finding fielders with a few more of her shots, then Harleen Deol came in at No 3 and once again was slow to get off the blocks. With just six overs of field restrictions, India managed just 25/1. And this, despite England getting off to a sloppy start too with their bowling and fielding.
When England’s spinners came on and tightened the screws, India lost further momentum. Harleen and Jemimah Rodrigues were softly caught and bowled either side of a frenetic innings from Harmanpreet; the captain could have been dismissed about three times in her 9-ball stay in the middle before eventually getting bowled by an arm-ball from Sophie Ecclestone. Richa Ghosh again looked uncomfortable during her brief knock and India were reduced to 72/5. Only Smriti Mandhana and Deepti Sharma batted with any degree of fluency and added respectability to India’s total. But the latter was guilty of making poor decisions late on, with confused running between the wickets putting lower-order bat Kranti Goud on strike for the entire penultimate over. Not that it would have mattered in the end result, but it summed up India’s batting performance.
“We didn’t bat well today, we could have done better on this pitch. They bowled well, and they didn’t give us a chance to execute our plans. We were not able to show up with good batting,” Harmanpreet said. “Toss was important under overcast conditions; it wasn’t easy to bat early on but we fought well to set a decent total. Then we weren’t able to bowl well and get early wickets. Unfortunately, we made a lot of mistakes and we have a lot of learnings.”
In the chase, England were always in control, showing better intent than India in the powerplay and getting away a few early boundaries. India did manage to keep things tight once the fielding instructions eased but they needed a few wickets in clusters, which never really came.
Obstructing the field controversy
It was a throwback to another controversial moment at Lord’s between India and England in a women’s ODI that took place in September 2022. Just under three years from an incident that divided the cricketing world, when Deepti ran out Charlie Dean at the non-striker’s end to bring an end to a dramatic run-chase, India had an appeal turned down for Obstructing the Field against England opener Tammy Beaumont. The batter was returning back to the crease after deciding against taking a quick single but after reaching the crease, gestured as if she was kicking the ball away. The play was still alive, India appealed and did have a strong case as per the letter of law but the third umpire ruled it not out.
