Guwahati, Mar 6:
A desperate Indian women’s team would aim to snap its five-match losing streak in the second T20 International against England here today.
India suffered a crushing 41-run loss to England in the first T20 of the three-match series here on Sunday.
The loss, India’s fifth in a row in the shortest format, meant the W V Raman-coached side has a lot of work to do before the T20 World Cup in Australia early next year.
India lost all their T20s in New Zealand after winning the ODI series and things seems to be heading in a similar direction against England.
Chasing England’s competitive 160 for four in the series opener, Indian batters cut a sorry figure to be restricted to 119 for six.
After England had put on a competitive total, the onus was on India’s top-order to do the job but the quartet of Harleen Deol, skipper Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues and veteran Mithali Raj failed to live to the expectations, seriously hurting the team’s cause.
The absence of a power-hitter like Harmanpreet Kaur in the run chase was felt immensely. The regular T20 captain is nursing an injury.
It was a rare failure from Mandhana, that too, on her captaincy debut considering the fact that she has been sublime form off late, plundering runs at will which earned her the ICC Woman Cricketer of the Year award.
Squads:
India: Smriti Mandhana (captain), Mithali Raj, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Taniya Bhatia (wicketkeeper), Bharti Fulmali, Anuja Patil, Shikha Pandey, Komal Zanzad, Arundhati Reddy, Poonam Yadav, Ekta Bisht, Radha Yadav, Veda Krishnamurty, Harleen Deol.
England: Tammy Beaumont, Katherine Brunt, Kate Cross, Sophia Dunkley Brown, Freya Davies, Georgia Elwiss, Amy Ellen Jones, Heather Knight(c), Laura Marsh, Natalie Sciver, Anya Shrubsole, Linsey Smith, Lauren Winfield, Danielle Wyatt, Alex Hartley
Match starts 11 am. (PTI )
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