Nagpur: Indian women won the third and last One Day International (ODI) match of three-match series against England by eight wickets at Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Nagpur, on April 12. Captain Mithali Raj made another entry into the record books by scoring her 50th half century in the match.
The way Mithali Raj is breaking records and rewriting the history of women cricket with her bat, one can say there is nothing that Indian skipper cannot achieve. In the third and last ODI match on Thursday, Mithali scored 50th fifty of her ODI career, thus becoming the first ever woman to do so.
With the win, India clinched the ODI series 2-1.
Riding on Mithali Raj (74), Smriti Mandhana (53) and Deepti Sharma’s (54) half-centuries, Indian team chased down the mediocre target of 202 runs in 45.2 overs with eight wickets to spare.
India’s opening was not good as they lost two early wickets in young Jemmiah Rodrigues (2) and Veda Krishnamurthy (7).
Smriti Mandhana walked out from the ground after scoring her 11th half-century due to a bout of heat cramps. And Mithali Raj scored her ‘historic’ 50th half century.
Earlier, after winning the toss, English skipper Heather Knight opted to bat first and the decision soon back-fired as they lost Tammy Beaumont (4) in the third over of the match, followed by Danielle Wyatt (17).
After two back-to-back dismissals, England was on the backfoot, but Heather Knight, along with wicket-keeper Amy Ellen Jones (94) stabilised the English innings and put up a 63 runs partnership for the third wicket.
However, Deepti Sharma broke the partnership by sending Knight (36) back to stands. Following Knight’s departure, all-rounder Natalie Sciver joined Amy at the crease. Sciver was not able to do much damage to the Indian bowlers, as Poonam Yadav sent her back at the score of 4 runs.
Fran Wilson (11) and Georgia Elwiss (11) were stumped by Indian wicket-keeper Sushma Verma when Poonam Yadav and Rajeshwari Gayakwad were bowling.
Anya Shrubsole scored just 3 runs before giving her wicket to Gayakwad and Danielle Hazell was removed by Deepti Sharma.
England’s star performer Amy Ellen Jones was unfortunate to have missed her century by six runs as Rajeshwari Gayakwad and Deepti Sharma paired well to remove the bails before she could touch the crease while taking a run.
From Indian camp, Poonam Yadav, Deepti Sharma, Jhulan Goswami and Rajeshwari Gayakwad took two wickets each.
From England vice-captain, Anya Shrubsole bagged two wickets.
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