The Indian women’s cricket team lost a final over thriller to England by just five runs at The Oval on Friday. It was the third game of the ongoing five-match ENG vs IND T20 2025 series.
Despite the loss, the Indian cricket team still hold a 2-1 lead in the series heading into the final two matches scheduled at Old Trafford and Edgbaston next Wednesday and Saturday, respectively.
Previously, India won the first game at Trent Bridge by a record margin of 97 runs before logging a 24-run win at Bristol in the second rubber.
A victory in the match would have seen India create history by claiming their first-ever women’s T20I series win over England.
Prior to this, India have lost all their six multi-game bilateral series against England. They, however, did win a one-off T20 against England at Derby back in 2006, which interestingly was also the first-ever meeting between the two teams in the format.
On Saturday, the match played out in bizarre fashion with both teams starting well while batting but crumbling in the last five overs.
With England cricket team captain Tammy Beaumont electing to bat, the hosts seemed poised for a huge total with openers Sophia Dunkley (75) and Danni Wyatt-Hodge (66) putting up a century stand for the first wicket.
When Dunkley departed in the second ball of the 16th over while trying to hit Deepti Sharma’s low full toss over the ropes, England looked in total control.
However, after the two put together 137 in the first 92 balls, the rest of the team managed just 34 in the next 28 while eight more wickets toppled.
Arundhati Reddy sent back Alice Capsey, Wyatt-Hodge and Amy Jones in the 17th over of the innings before Radha Yadav cleaned up the England skipper in the next to register her 100th wicket in women’s T20Is.
Deepti is the only other Indian bowler with over 100 wickets in the format.
Shree Charani, who has been India’s standout lady with the ball, dismissed Paige Scholfield and Issy Wong off consecutive balls in the penultimate over before Deepti Sharma missed a hat-trick in the final one as England finished with 171/9.
Besides the two openers, Ecclestone, with 10, was the only other England batter to hit double figures.
Chasing 172 for history, Indian openers Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma made a watchful start before taking the attack to the English bowlers. The duo put together 85 for the opening wicket before Verma departed just three short of a half-century.
Lauren Filer reignited the home team’s hopes as she sent back Jemimah Rodrigues (20) and Mandhana (56) in quick succession to put India in a spot of bother.
The wickets also dried up the boundaries as India’s asking rate climbed up to 30 to get from 18 balls from 49 runs needed of 42.
Richa Ghosh’s wicket in the penultimate over didn’t help India’s cause either as 12 were needed off the final over with Indian T20 captain Harmanpreet Kaur and Amanjot Kaur on the crease.
Lauren Bell, bowling the final over for England, gave away just six-runs and dismissed Harmanpreet off the last delivery of the match to send her team-mates and home support into a frenzy.
ENG-W vs IND-W 3rd T20 2025 brief scores: England 171/9 in 20 overs (Sophia Dunkley 75, Deepti Sharma 3/27) beat India 166/5 in 20 overs (Smriti Mandhana 56; Lauren Filer 2/30) by five runs.
