India Women vs England Women, 2nd ODI: Sophia Dunkley’s match-winning knock ensures India lose series | Cricket News – Times of India

Buoyed by a superb knock under pressure by Sophia Dunkley (73 not out, 81b, 5×4, 1×6 ) and her match-winning 92-run unbeaten partnership in 112 balls for the sixth wicket with Katherine Brunt (33 not out, 46b, 3×4), England managed to hold their nerves in a tense chase under lights to beat India by five wickets and clinch the series in the second women’s ODI at Taunton on Wednesday.
Staring at multiple problems ahead of the ODI World Cup in New Zealand early next year, India — who effected three changes to their XI and played a three-spin pronged attack — still failed to find a win.
Having started the tour on a bright note by drawing the one-off Test at Bristol, India would be disappointed to lose the ODI series in a tame manner. They will now only have pride to salvage in the third ODI at Worcester on Saturday.

Like in the first game, their 221-run total, after being asked to bat first, proved to be highly inadequate against an English team which has serious batting depth.
Dunkley— the first black cricketer to play for the England women’s cricket team — joined forces with Brunt to rescue her team after it had slipped to 133 for five in the 29th over in the day/nighter. What made her maiden half-century even more praiseworthy is the fact that this was just her second ODI, and her maiden outing in this format.
She initially showed a penchant for hitting the ball with ease through the off-side, but later smashed Shikha Pandey for a six down the ground and pulled Jhulan Goswami to mid-wicket too. She also tackled all three of India’s spinners with ease.
On the eve of this day/night game, India’s pace spearhead Jhulan Goswami had promised a better show by the bowlers. To an extent, the bowling unit, revamped by the introduction of leggie Poonam Yadav and off-spinner Sneh Rana, kept Jhulan’s promise, but it didn’t have any answers for Dunkley.
Recalled for this game after being dropped from the opener due to poor form in the previous series against South Africa, Yadav picked up two wickets but proved a tad too expensive, giving away 63 runs in her 10 overs.

Defending 221, India were provided a perfect start by the experienced Jhulan Goswami, as the seamer produced a ‘jaffa’ to dislodge the middle stump of opener Tammy Beaumont (10), who had scored a half-century in the first game, in the fifth over. The ball held its line after pitching, with Beaumont, who was expecting it to come in, missing its line completely.
Jhulan’s new-ball partner Shikha Pandey had the dangerous-looking Lauren Winfield-Hill (42, 57b, 4×4, 1×6) caught behind.
Brought in place of seamer Pooja Vastrakar and left-arm spinner Ekta Bisht, Yadav and Rana struck useful blows, but ‘keeper-bat Amy Jones ensured England kept momentum in the chase with a swift 28 off 34 balls.
After slamming a half-century, skipper Mithali Raj couldn’t field due to a sprained neck, which meant India were led by Harmanpreet Kaur.
In a rather surprising move, India replaced Poonam Raut at No. 3 with Jemimah. However, the youngster perished soon, lobbing a ball from Cross to Katherine Brunt while trying to clear mid-wicket.
Critics had been gunning for Raut after she took 61 balls for scoring 32, but she had been the top run-scorer in the home (ODI) series against South Africa (236 runs in five [email protected]) earlier this year.
Brief Scores: India 221 in 50 overs lost to England 225-5 in 47.3 overs (Sophia Dunkley 73 not out, Lauren Winfield-Hill 42, Katherine Brunt 33 not out) by five wickets.