Worcester: Captain Mithali Raj scored an unbeaten 75 as the Indian women’s cricket team thrashed England by four wickets in the third and final ODI on Saturday. However, despite losing this match, England won the three-match series 2-1.
In this rain-stopped match, the number of overs was reduced to 47. England scored 219 runs in 47 overs while India scored 220 for six in 46.3 overs to win the match. Captain Mithali played a match-winning innings of 75 not out off 86 balls with the help of eight fours. Opener Shefali Verma made 19 and Smriti Mandhana scored 49 runs in 57 balls with the help of eight fours. Harmanpreet Kaur made 16 and Deepti Sharma made 18 while Sneh Rana scored 24 runs in 22 balls with the help of three fours.
Mithali and Rana put on an important 50-run partnership for the sixth wicket. Rana got out on the last ball of the 46th over but by then India’s score had reached 214 runs. Mithali put the victory in India’s bag by hitting the winning four on the third ball of the 47th over. Mithali got the Player of the Match and Sophie Ecclestone got the Player of the Series award.
Earlier in England’s innings, captain Heather Knight scored 46 and Natalie Shiver made 49. England were once in a good position at 151 for three but then went on to add 68 runs and lost their remaining seven wickets. Among the Indian bowlers, Deepti Sharma took three wickets for 47 runs in 10 overs.
