India women register maiden T20 series win against England

Manchester: India scripted a landmark victory, clinching their first-ever Women's T20I series win against England with a dominant six-wicket triumph in the fourth match, led by a stellar performance from their spinners.

With this win, India took an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match series, with the final game scheduled to be played in Birmingham on Saturday.

India had beaten England in a lone T20I match played in Derby in 2006. Since then, the 'Women in Blue' have fallen short in every women's T20I series against England, both at home and away.

Spin played a starring role in India's dominant win on Wednesday as Radha Yadav (2/15), 20-year-old Shree Charani (2/30), and Deepti Sharma (1/29) combined to claim five wickets, restricting the hosts to a modest 126 for 7.

Openers Shafali Verma (32) and Smriti Mandhana (31) then chased with flair, putting on a 56-run stand that laid the foundation for the win. The visitors overhauled the target with 18 balls to spare, capping off a memorable evening.

The victory comes as a timely boost for India, helping them acclimatise to English conditions ahead of the ICC Women's T20 World Cup scheduled to be held here next year.

"We are really grateful that we were able to do this (series win). I'm really proud of my team the way we played this series. It was really important to get that momentum and I'm really happy the way we all contributed," India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur said at the post-match presentation.

"We had very good camps back home before coming here. We worked on all our plans, accordingly we have executed everything here. Everybody knew their role and accordingly we all played," she added.

Kaur and Co. have been in red-hot form, having handed England a record-shattering 97-run defeat in the series-opener before sealing a 24-run win in Bristol, England women's first-ever T20I loss at the venue. They lost the third T20I by five runs.

Electing to bat first, England found themselves under early pressure as Indian spinners Radha and Deepti struck within the powerplay, removing both the openers.

Stand-in captain Tammy Beaumont, leading in the absence of the injured Nat Sciver-Brunt, briefly counterattacked with a 16-ball 20 that included three boundaries. But her stay was cut short by Radha, and five balls later, Charani trapped Alice Capsey leg-before, leaving England wobbling at 93 for 5.

India's bowlers were backed by a sharp fielding effort that squeezed England during the middle overs, keeping the hosts to a sub-par total.

With the bat, Shafali came out swinging, taking on the short-ball ploy with confidence and cracking six boundaries. Mandhana too joined the charge, striking five fours of her own.

Though both openers fell in quick succession, the platform was well set. Jemimah Rodrigues (24 not out) and Harmanpreet Kaur (26) steered India home through a boundary-less phase between overs 8 to 14 to eventually take India to the win.