Smriti Mandhana smashes 112 runs; India defeats England by 97 runs

It was stand-in skipper Smriti Mandhana’s day at Trent Bridge on Saturday. She could do nothing wrong after India were put in to bat in the first T20I here at Trent Bridge. Smriti, captaining the side in place of Harmanpreet Kaur, who was rested as she had still not recovered from a blow she received on her head in the warm-up game a few days earlier, led from the front by scoring her maiden T20I century which helped India post a massive 210-5 in their 20 overs. Thereafter, she marshalled the resources excellently as England collapsed for 113 in 14.5 overs. India registered a memorable 97-run win in their 200th T20I game.

If India’s batting was par excellence, their bowling was equally good, with the spin quartet of Deepti Sharma, Radha Yadav, Sneh Rana and debutant Shree Charani not only keeping the famed England batting in check but also getting wickets regularly. The home team lost three in the Powerplay and were five down for 78 by the half-way mark. From then on, they tried to make a match of it, but the task proved too much for them.