Expected to make a smooth ride chasing 184, India were rocked by Brunt’s lethal mix of pace and swing and in the blink of an eye the hosts were 16 for four in 6.2 overs, finding themselves in a morass. They nearly pulled off a win as Mithali (91 n.o, 138b, 6x4) played a wonderfully paced knock but narrowly failed to prevent England from registering a series-leveling victory. Mithali’s 106-run fifth-wicket partnership with Amita Sharma (40, 82b, 5x4) stemmed the rot and put India firmly back on track. Both Mithali and Amita conjured their vast experience at the highest level, tackling the English bowlers with composure and never allowing the situation or opposition to dictate terms.
During the initial part of their innings, the pair concentrated on blunting the cock-a-hoop English bowlers with doughty defence, but as the innings progressed they rolled out some excellent shots all around the park. Mithali’s spanking drives through the covers off pacer Jenny Gunn and offie Laura Marsh underlined her form.
At the other end, Amita focused more on giving Mithali as much strike as possible, but her late cut off Charlotte Edwards was an epitome of timing and placement. But Isa Guha castled Amita to expose the lower-order and even a 45-run partnership between Mithali and Jhulan Goswami could not save the day for India as they could not eke out five runs off the last over.
Before Mithali exhibited her brilliance, Brunt, who took a career best 5 for 22, gave signs of an impending storm, rattling Anagha Deshpande with the third ball of the first over. Attempting a forward defence, Anjum Chopra only managed to feather Brunt to Tamsin Beaumont behind the stumps, and the pacer grabbed Priyanka Roy and Rumeli Dhar off successive balls to set the foundation for an England win.
But their batswomen’s discomfort against the spinners, this time left-arm spinner Gouhar Sultana (4/30) troubling them, will remain a worry when they travel to Visakhapatnam.
England made a good start with Caroline Atkins and Katherine Ebony-Brent adding 36 runs for the opening wicket before Preeti Dimri snapped the alliance. However, a fluent Jenny Gunn (64, 92b, 8x4) and Brent realised 50 runs for the second wicket. But Sultana intervened at this juncture to remove Ebony-Brent and Dimri returned to account for Lydia Greenway. Gunn and skipper Charlotte rescued England from twin blows adding 46 runs off 57 balls for the fourth wicket, but they lost the next five wickets for 15 runs, sliding to 156 for eight and it required a brisk 28-run stand between Brunt and Isa for the ninth wicket to take England to a competitive score.
‘We had a chance to win when Amita was there’
After making a fine unbeaten half-century that nearly guided India to a win against England in the second one-dayer, Mithali Raj said here on Sunday that the dismissals of Amita Sharma and Jhulan Goswami had prevented India from reaching home.
“When I was with Amita, we had a chance to win. When we came together the score was 16 for four and our focus was on surviving that period. Once Amita too began to get some runs I opened a little bit more, but we lost her at a crucial time.
“Even when Jhulan was there also we had a chance, but she also got out at a crucial time and those wickets cost us the match,” Mithali said in the post-match press-do.
A knee injury to MD Thirushkamini has added to the worries in the Indian camp. Thirushkamini suffered a sprain while fielding, forcing her to leave the field.
But the middle-order bat returned when her team was tottering at 16 for four and prevented Katherine Brunt from taking a hat-trick. However, while avoiding a bouncer from Brunt the Indian batswoman lost her balance aggravating the injury and she did not bat any further in the match.
“She has suffered a niggle behind the knee, and she has gone to a hospital. We are waiting for the MRI scan report. We will assess her situation after that,” Indian team manager Sudha Shah said.
England skipper Charlotte Edwards expressed satisfaction over her team’s performance.
“It was a great effort, and we missed a few experienced players today. But the girls showed a lot of character, and hopefully it will remain for the next leg of the tour,” Edwards said.