ENG-W vs IND-W

We only have about a fortnight to go for the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026. Of course, the win would make India happy. But more than that, it is about the little pieces of the puzzle that came together tonight.

Yastika Bhatia announced her comeback in style. Nandani Sharma made a debut to remember. India won comfortably despite the absence of Harmanpreet Kaur and with virtually zero contributions from Shafali, Smriti and Ghosh. However, the under utilisation of a 6th bowling and Bharati Fulmali's form are still two areas of concern, which they might want to address going forward. Two more matches remain in this series.

We hope you enjoyed the coverage as much as we did bringing it to you. This is Darpan Tikiya signing off on the behalf of Pradeep and Sourabh Agrawal. See you soon!

Smriti Mandhana (India Women captain): "(On the batting) Losing two wickets in the first over is not ideal. Powerplay has been our strength. It was great from Yastika, coming back after months and taking the game away from the opposition. Jemimah was amazing. I still think we could have gotten 10 more runs there. 

(On the bowling) We had a lot of inputs from Jemimah and Yastika about what lengths were tough. But then, we can only tell them what to do. It is about execution. I think 70-80% balls were bowled in the right areas. Even when they got hit for a boundary, they were calm for the follow-up ball. 

Nandni showed great character. She has a lot of fire. She picked up crucial wickets and bowled some crucial overs. It is great to see the confident that the youngsters have these days."

Charlotte Dean (England Women Captain): "(Where did it go wrong?) Two early wickets. But they still kept scoring runs. Jemi and Yastika had a brilliant partnership but we could not break it early enough. We were pretty happy with what we needed with the bat. But it did not work out. 

(Positives?) Proud of the energy that the girls showed. It was hot out there. But they showed good energy. So that is a positive element to be taken. It was reminiscent of the game we had against New Zealand in Canterbury. It's a shame it ended the same. 

(On Tilly Corteen-Coleman) There was an element of calmness in her game. That was impressive. Of course, Amy Jones was very good in a different role given to her."

Jemimah Rodrigues is the Player of the Match for her 69 runs off 40 balls, this is what she had to say: (her partnership with Yastika Bhatia) Lot of credit goes to Yastika, the way she kept going. She was striking at over 200, took a lot of load off me. That was a very important partnership. We kept speaking about playing to the situation, just one partnership. At that time England were cruising but we needed to stay patient and play smart cricket, at the same time play our shots.

(thoughts on the surface) Initially there was a bit of hold, Bell got some good movement. Won't say it was slow coming from India but for a English wicket it was a bit slow, there was some hold initially.

(on her batting style) In T20, there is always one fielder the circle. I trust my instincts, my game is more about picking gaps. (on her fielding) It was like a yo-yo test for me today, I love fielding and being in the hotspots

9:38 PM local time, 2:08 AM IST: India Women thrash England by 38 runs and go 1-0 up in the 3-match series.

Jemimah Rodrigues 69 (40) | Nandani Sharma 3/34 (4)
Amy Jones 67 (48) | Lauren Bell 3/34 (4)

It was a tale of two contrasting halves. The first felt like a Rohit Shetty action flick with chaos, explosions, twists and turns every now and then. The run chase, however, unfolded like a predictable daily soap — stretched out and you could see the ending coming from a mile away. In the end, India would be delighted for having won this match on a canter, despite the absence of captain Harmanpreet Kaur and virtually no contributions from Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma.

The stand-in skipper was out first ball, hitting a Lauren Bell delivery straight to cover. Shafali followed suit and got dismissed in the same over to leave the visitors reeling at 7/2. But Yastika Bhatia, who was playing her first international in 576 days, counter-attacked. She threw her bat at everything, got boundaries off the inside-edge, outside edge, and a handful from the middle too on her way to a sprightly half-century. Riding on it, India scored 73/2 in the powerplay — their highest against England in WT20Is.

Whilst Bhatia intended to go 'crash, bang, wallop', Jemimah Rodrigues played a high class knock at the other end. She took her time to get her eye in and then, unleashed some classy strokes. The duo stitched a partnership of 126 for the third wicket. However, both got in the 14th over itself. Ghosh and Fulmali could not score big and India lost momentum. Then, an effervescent cameo of 22 (13) from Deepti Sharma, propelled the hosts to 188/7.

England's run chase was largely about one partnership. Amy Jones and Heather Knight got together after their openers had squandered their starts by falling prey to Kranti Goud within the powerplay. The pair put up a 64-run stand for the 3rd wicket, but could not keep up with the rate. By the time Charani broke the partnership, the required rate was already touching 13 rpo. From there on, we saw multiple batters swing for the hills and in that lose their wicket. Nandani Sharma's back of the hand slower ball proved effective as the debutant finished with 3/34 against her name. England fell short by 38 runs. 

19.6 Arundhati Reddy to Lauren Bell, INDIA HAMMER ENGLAND BY 38 RUNS and take a 1-0 lead in this 3-match T20I series! Attempted yorker from Reddy, ends up as a low full toss and Bell manages to drive it down to long-on. Dean turned back for the second but then decided against it, good for her as the throw from long-on hit the stumps at the striker's end but she was back in her crease. Regardless of all that, this has been a comprehensive performance from the visitors who have pretty much outplayed the hosts in Chelmsford

19.5 Arundhati Reddy to Charlotte Dean, uses the feet and ends up yorking herself, manages to squeeze it out into the square leg region for one

19.4 Arundhati Reddy to Charlotte Dean, CLUBBED FOR FOUR! Picks the slower ball and hits it hard in the gap between deep mid-wicket and long-on with a good swing of the bat

19.3 Arundhati Reddy to Charlotte Dean, RUN OUT, both the batters are at a handshaking distance from each other and that is a comedy of errors for England. Pretty much sums up the night for the hosts. Dean wanted to paddle it fine from outside off, picked out short fine and she was ball-watching. Turns out Ecclestone was almost beside her, Dean in the end makes the crease and her spin partner will have to go as Reddy collects the throw and takes the bails off at the other end

19.2 Arundhati Reddy to Sophie Ecclestone, very full at the stumps, off pace, 93 kph, Ecclestone slams it along the ground to long-on for a single

In her 50th T20I, Arundhati Reddy [3-0-16-0] gets the chance to close it off.

Shree Charani caps off with 1/25 off her 4 overs. Another solid outing for her with the ball in hand. 

18.5 Shree Charani to Charlotte Dean, wider than the previous one, very full, Dean smacks it back at her and Charani does well to get  behind the ball and prevent any runs