Quick guide:
India v England : 1st T20I
England took an unbeatable lead of 8-4 in the multi-format series, as they beat India by 18 runs (DLS) in the first of the three match T20I series on Friday night, thanks to some outstanding performance by Nat Sciver and her stand of 78 of 42 balls with Amy Jones in the 4th wicket. Although, the match ended prematurely as rain played spoil-sport, we got to see some great performances from both the sides.
Match Summary
It was exciting to watch a change of fortune at toss for India in the very first T20I. India won the toss and elected to field first.
While rain played a spoilt-sport, we had a lot of brilliant moments to witness in the game. From exceptional fielding efforts by India that made the opposition players and supports applaud it too, to watching the batting masterclass from England we have been blessed to watch these two very competitive sides take the field!
Let’s look back on some of the very interesting and game changing moments from the match!
1. Indian fielder’s field day, the Harry(s) stole the show
The fielding display was outstanding from the Indian side throughout the innings. Some terrific efforts were seen from Radha Yadav, Sneh Rana, Smriti Mandhana and Deepti Sharma. Richa Ghosh, after her initial fumble, came back superbly behind the stumps as she took a great catch of Danni Wyatt and later dismissed Sophia Dunkley with a brilliant stumping. Sharma got rid of Knight as she pulled off a stunning run out and captain Harmanpreet Kaur’s athletic display at the boundary costed England the wicket of the dangerous Sciver.
The result didn’t go our way today but here is something special from the game.@ImHarmanpreet | @imharleenDeol #TeamIndia
🎥: @SonySportsIndia pic.twitter.com/E1lMmPZrYR— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) July 9, 2021
But, at the end of the day the event that stood out was Harleen Deol’s boundary line catch to dismiss Amy Jones. Her presence of mind, athleticism and quick movement was lauded by fans and experts alike, as she took a stunning catch, threw the ball in the air, stepped outside the line to maintain her balance and then completed the catch mid-air diving. Their efforts in the field showed great improvements as compared to the display in the South Africa series (March 2021) as Indian fielders impressed all around.
2. The Sciver Show
Nat Sciver’s outstanding form against India in this series continued, as she hammered a 27 ball 55 with absolute dominance all over the field. She came to bat when England were 56/1 in 7.2 overs, and got off the mark with a smashing boundary through the covers. After Tammy Beaumont and Heather Knight fell in the 9th and 12th over respectively, what we saw from Sciver was nothing less than an onslaught. She smashed a total of 9 boundaries, which included a stunning six over the extra covers of Radha Yadav’s delivery. The Indian spin attack looked completely toothless, while Sciver kept smashing them around all over the field.
2. England raced to 177 after a cautious start
After reaching to the first 50 in 39 balls, England innings started gearing up after Nat Sciver came into the middle. Later, Amy Jones joined the party and took the score to 159 in 18 overs. Jones scored a 43 of 27 balls before perishing to a stunning catch by Harleen Deol at the boundary line. Her fine innings consisted of four boundaries and two sixes.
Danni Wyatt was the third highest scorer for England. The English opener, who came back to the side in the T20 series, after getting dropped from the ODIs, scored 31 and added 56 runs in the first wicket with Beaumont. Thanks to some late fireworks from Sophie Ecclestone, England reached 177/7 in their 20 overs.
4. India’s batting woes
After the dangerous Shafali Verma got dismissed in the 2nd ball of India’s innings for a duck, Mandhana looked impressive as she continued the innings with Harleen Deol before getting dismissed to Sciver for a well-made 17 ball 29 after smashing her for two back to back boundaries.
Captain Kaur tried to hit hard early on but disappointed again with her short stay of just 2 balls. Deepti Sharma and Deol continued for another two overs, as ultimately the play stopped at 8.4 overs with India at 54/3. The par score at that point was 72. As the play was then abandoned due to rain and India was 18 runs short, the match went to England.
Watch : 1st T20I highlights
And with that, India’s chances of winning the multi-format series seems to have ended. India will need to win the rest of the two matches to draw the multi-format series. It will be interesting to see, whether they make any changes in the playing 11 going forward or stick to the same batting order. All in all it’s a good set up for the 2nd T20 on Sunday, 11th July.
Key Take-aways
- What may seem like its impossible to achieve, might just need practice, precision and lot more practice to achieve and if you do that, you are more likely to achieve that goal. (Ref: Harleen and Harmanpreet’s Fielding efforts)
- If every individual in the team takes up the responsibility to give their individual best (even if it comes with a bit of risk of possible errors), the energy and potential of the team to win multiplies.
- Certain situations are not in our hand. We can only control things and situations to some extent. It is how you do that which makes a difference. External factors like weather in this game is in no one’s control but one can control on how to make the best out of the time on field till the game is on.
~Poulami Das (Stats Analyst, Beyond the Matches), Urvi Shah (Author, Beyond the matches)
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