Smriti Mandhana returned to the side after an injury and smashed a brisk half-century as the Indian women’s team beat West Indies by 6 wickets to clinch the three-match ODI series 2-1 in Antigua on Wednesday in the third match of the ICC Women’s Championship series.
ICC Women’s Championship 2019
Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues shared a 141-run opening partnership as India chased down a target of 195 with 7.5 overs to spare.
India thus bounced back after losing the first ODI of the series by one run to emerge winners by a 2-1 scoreline. The second ODI saw the visitors register a comfortable 53-run win and thus they consolidated their position at the third place in the ICC Women’s Championship table as well, with 20 points from 18 matches; moving four clear of South Africa.
Returning to the side after missing the three-match series at home against South Africa and the first two matches in Antigua, Mandhana looked in the zone. It was Rodrigues who set the tempo for the chase as Mandhana took her time, spending a lot of time at the non-striker’s end in the early stages. The fifty-run stand came in the 10th over as the openers gave India a flying start, finding the boundaries regularly.
Smriti Mandhana leads the way on comeback as India clinch series against West Indies
Interestingly, Mandhana also brought up 2000 runs in ODIs, the fastest Indian and third fastest overall to get to the milestone in terms of innings taken (51).
Along with Mandhana, Hayley Matthews also returned to action for West Indies after serving an eight-month ban and finished with figures of 3/27 in a losing cause.
India’s bowlers were once again on top of things and a collective effort helped restrict the hosts to 194. Jhulan Goswami and Poonam Yadav picked two wickets each while Shikha Pandey, Rajeshwari Gayakwad and Deepti Sharma finished with a wicket each too.
Batting first, early wickets and some disciplined tight bowling meant that West Indies were denied a platform to build on. Stefanie Taylor battled her way to 79 and Stacy-Ann King, who managed, 38 were the only ones who got a move on as the hosts folded for 194.
Kyshona Knight’s (16) dismissal left the hosts reeling at 84/5 before Taylor and King put together a 96-run stand to give some sense of respectability to the innings. Once both were dismissed and the score read 186/7, the lower order went looking for quick runs and the innings ended with the last three wickets falling for just eight runs.
In response, Mandhana (74) and Jemimah Rodrigues (69) started off well, with the southpaw scoring at a fast pace. Rodrigues, however, was the first to bring up fifty, taking 69 deliveries to get there while Mandhana, who was dealing in sixes, needed 20 balls lesser for his half-century.
The duo put together 141 runs for the opening wicket before Rodrigues was dismissed, and Mandhana followed suit shortly, both falling to Mathews. The wickets, though, hardly caused any dent to India’s pursuit of a series win, with Mithali Raj and Punam Raut coming up with useful 20s to take their side closer.
Harmanpreet Kaur and Deepti Sharma eventually took the team over the line with 9.4 overs to spare as India clinched the series 2-1. The five-match T20I series begins on 9 November.
