England spinners ran through India’s batting line-up to hand the visitors a series-clinching four-wicket victory in the second T20I at the Wankhede Stadium. India, clueless and all over the place after being sent in, were bowled out for 80 – their third-lowest T20I total – in 16.2 overs. England chased it down in the 12th over to go 2-0 up in the series with the final game to be played on Sunday.In an attack that boasts of variety in the spin department, offspinner Charlie Dean, who missed the first T20I due to a stomach bug, left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone, and legspinner Sarah Glenn scalped two wickets each and conceded just 42 runs in their combined 10.2 overs to dominate India.
India’s horror start
India looked indecisive with the bat from the beginning, and it reflected immediately on the scoreboard. Dean struck with the second ball of the match, trapping Shafali Verma lbw as the batter got stuck in the crease against a full delivery. Smriti Mandhana, too, was lbw, trying to play another full ball from Dean from the back foot.Harmanpreet Kaur paddled Nat Sciver-Brunt for two back-to-back fours but then missed a straight ball and was lbw. When Deepti Sharma, playing her 100th T20I, edged Lauren Bell behind, India were 29 for 4.Renuka Singh struck twice in one over but India didn’t have enough runs•BCCI
Ecclestone’s sensational, low catch off her own bowling in the following over sent Richa Ghosh back. But there was some resistance from Jemimah Rodrigues, who was one of the two India batters to get to double digits. She played 33 balls and scored 30, mostly using the sweep shot against spinners to find runs. She eventually fell to Glenn in the 13th over, as the eighth wicket.Ecclestone could have added one more wicket to her tally but England failed to review an lbw chance in the 14th over. She had pinged Titas Sadhu on the boot but there was hardly any appeal. Replays showed there was no bat involved and Sadhu was plumb.
India fight back, briefly
Playing her second match after returning from a stress injury, Renuka Singh once again found swing with the new ball. She was wayward in her first over but gave India some hope by castling Sophia Dunkley and Danni Wyatt in the second.Alice Capsey and Sciver-Brunt put on 42 off 29 balls for the third wicket, but it wasn’t smooth sailing for England. In a space of 17 balls, they slipped from 61 for 2 to 73 for 6. It started with Pooja Vastrakar cleaning up Sciver-Brunt for 16 when she exposed her stumps while looking to go big. Substitute fielder Amanjot Kaur’s brilliant catch gave left-arm spinner Saika Ishaque her first wicket. In the next over, Deepti struck twice in two balls, removing Amy Jones and Freya Kemp.But India didn’t have enough runs to make a match out of it; England needed just five after Deepti’s over. After a couple of runs, Ecclestone got an outside edge off Shreyanka Patil that ran way for four and sealed the series.
