India, electing to bat after winning the toss for the first time this series, managed only 205/8. England overhauled it in the exciting final stages to win by two wickets with seven balls in hand.
A dramatic collapse from 129/1 to 150/7 – losing 6 wickets for 21 runs in the space of 8.5 overs – played a major factor in hosts India not being able to complete a clean sweep of the world champions England in the third ODI here on Thursday.
India, electing to bat after winning the toss for the first time this series, managed only 205/8. England overhauled it in the exciting final stages to win by two wickets with seven balls in hand.
India, though, won the series 2-1 having won the first by 66 runs and the second by 7 wickets – their fourth triumph in last five rubber. For England, the win was crucial as they take home two points that will help them in the ICC Women's Championship table on the road to the 2021 Women's World Cup. India have 4 points from the series to be 14 points from 15 games.
With Indian women "not playing Pakistan" in the Championship cycle, as captain Mithali Raj said on Thursday, they lose six points and have only Windies to face, against whom India need to garner maximum points and hope for direct qualification into the Women's World Cup.
England seamer Katherine Brunt was the wrecker-in-chief. The Indian batters bore the brunt of Katherine, who in her second spell dismembered the innings that was sitting pretty at 129/1.
Brunt, who went wicketless in her five previous ODIs against India and who was unlucky in not taking a scalp in the first ODI despite bowling well and missing the edges, took her fifth five-wicket haul in 115 matches. The 33-year-old right-armer from Yorkshire, who beat Jemimah Rodrigues defence and castle her with the second ball of the match, had a dream spell of 4-2-6-4. The Player of the Match broke the 129-run second-wicket partnership between Smriti Mandhana and Punam Raut with the former yet again losing out on a three-figure score.
Such has been Mandhana's impatience after crossing a fifty that in 50 ODIs, she has only four centuries and 15 fifties. Beginning cautiously, Mandhana came into her own, playing shots all over including the mighty pull off medium-pacer Natalie Sciver for six over mid-wicket. After reaching her fifty and looking good for a three-figure score, the 22-year-old left-hander hurriedly pulled Brunt straight to deep mid-wicket fielder in the bowler's first over on her return to the attack.
In the same over, Brunt beat a defensive Raut to bowl her through the gate. Mona Meshram, given a golden chance to prove herself with the bat, played across to a straight line and was trapped in front. Captain Mithali Raj was the next casualty, caught bat-pad at the wicket by an alert Sarah Taylor to be Brunt's fifth victim.
At the other end, Brunt's new ball partner Anya Shrubsole dismissed Taniya Bhatia early in her second spell and Jhulan Goswami was also caught bat-pad by Taylor as India were 150/7. However, a 47-run partnership between Deepti Sharma and Shikha Pandey took India past 200.
England pulled it off, though not as convincing as they should, for they are the reigning world champions. They were pushed to the deep by veteran seamer Jhulan Goswami, who took the first three wickets in an impressive opening spell of 6-0-21-3. India sniffed victory when they had half the Englishwomen back in the hut for just 49.
Two crucial partnerships centring around Danielle Wyatt, who posted her maiden ODI fifty in 63 appearances – 69 for the sixth wicket with captain Heather Knight and 56 for the seventh with Georgia Elwiss – kept England in the chase.
The frequent bowling changes that skipper Mithali did had little impact on the visitors, who crossed the finish line in the penultimate over.
SCOREBOARD
India: J Rodrigues b Brunt 0, S Mandhana c Wyatt b Brunt 66, P Raut b Brunt 56, M Raj c Taylor b Brunt 7, M Meshram lbw b Brunt 0, D Sharma (not out) 27, T Bhatia b Shrubsole
0, J Goswami c Taylor b Sciver 1, S Pandey c&b Elwiss 26, P Yadav (not out) 3
Extras (B4, LB3, W12) 19
Total (for 8 wickets, 50 ov) 205 (4.10 runs per over)
Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Rodrigues, 0.2 ov), 2-129 (Mandhana, 28.3 ov), 3-131 (Raut, 28.6 ov), 4-133 (Meshram, 30.4 ov), 5-140 (Raj, 32.4 ov), 6-144 (Bhatia, 33.3 ov), 7-150 (Goswami, 37.2 ov), 8-197 (Pandey, 48.2 ov)
Bowling: K Brunt 10-2-28-5 (W4), A Shrubsole 10-0-44-1 (W4), G Elwiss 10-0-29-1 (W1), N Sciver 9-2-33-1, H Knight 3-0-23-0, A Hartley 5-0-26-0, D Wyatt 3-0-15-0 (W3)
England (target: 206): A Jones c Mandhana b Goswami 13, T Beaumont c Meshram b Goswami 21, L Winfield c Bhatia b Goswami 2, H Knight c Bhatia b Yadav 47, N Sciver
c&b Sharma 1, S Taylor lbw b Pandey 2, D Wyatt c Meshram b Pandey 56, G Elwiss (not out) 33, K Brunt c Raut b Yadav 18, A Shrubsole (not out) 4
Extras (B4, W7) 11
Total (for 8 wickets, 48.5 ov) 208 (4.25 runs per over)
Fall of wickets: 1-25 (Jones, 4.6 ov), 2-38 (Winfield, 8.3 ov), 3-39 (Beaumont, 10.2 ov), 4-40 (Sciver, 11.2 ov), 5-49 (Taylor, 14.6 ov), 6-118 (Knight, 30.6 ov), 7-174 (Wyatt, 42.1 ov), 8-204 (Brunt, 48.4 ov)
Bowling: J Goswami 9-0-41-3 (W1), S Pandey 10-1-34-2 (W4), D Sharma 10-1-47-1 (W1), R Gayakwad 10-0-41-0, P Yadav 9.5-0-41-2
Result: England win by 2 wickets, India clinch series 2-1
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