India Women will take on England in the first T20I of the 3-match T20I series. England won the ODI series 2-1 and India are coming off a victory.
Match Timings: July 09, 11 PM IST
Team Preview
England will now host India for the T20I series. Hosts won the ODI series comprehensively but team India showed their best game in the last game of the series. Mithali Raj’s another half-century helped Indian girls to chase down a total. It was India’s first victory on this tour. Now Harmanpreet will lead the side in the T20I series.
The finalists of the T20 World Cup played only one series after the epic final at MCG. They suffered a 2-1 defeat to South Africa at home, meanwhile England thrashed New Zealand 3-0 when they toured the Kiwi country. Danni Wyatt along with Mady Villiers are back while Kate Cross and Lauren Winfield-Hill return to play for their regional teams and will be available for Charlotte Edwards Cup action.
There are very slight changes in India’s T20I squad and the majority of the players are the same who played in the ODI series. India have to showcase their best game because England is in tremendous form and they are the best side in the world after Australia. India and England both face each other in the last year’s WC Semifinal but the match washed out due to rain and India made into the finals.
The positive intent in last ODI can help Indian girls in the shorter format. Shafali made debuts in ODI and Tests on this tour but her best version comes in the T20 format. Her performance at the top will make India’s performance top. Harman will also look to get some runs after poor form in all formats. Indian spinner’s role will also important as they have been a key figure to India’s bowling attack. On the other hand, Wyatt found the name in England’s squad and England’s squad will be the same.
Pitch Report
Northampton’s surface is also good for batting and it offers a great assistance to pacers. Spin might be handy here. Chasing would be slightly tricky. We can see a score of around 150-160.
Possible XI
England Women
Tammy Beaumont, Danielle Wyatt, Heather Knight (c), Natalie Sciver, Amy Ellen Jones (wk), Sophia Dunkley, Katherine Brunt, Sophie Ecclestone, Sarah Glenn, Mady Villiers, Freya Davies
India Women
Smriti Mandhana (c), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harleen Deol, Richa Ghosh, Deepti Sharma, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Shikha Pandey, Poonam Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Arundhati Reddy
Key Players
England Women
Tammy Beaumont
102 runs in the previous T20I series vs NZ, having a tremendous form
Heather Knight
A solid allrounder for the English side
India Women
Shafali Verma
No. 1 ranked T20I batter, a hard-hitter
Smriti Mandhana
A top-form batter, can accelerate very well
