India Women will take on England in the opening ODI of the 3-match ODI series. Both sides played out a competitive draw in Bristol last week.
Match Timings: June 27, 3 PM IST
Team Preview
After a thrilling Test encounter in Bristol, India and England Women will face each other in the opening ODI of the series. Both sides would be eager to start the series on a high note. World Champions England will also start their preparation for the upcoming ODI World Cup which is scheduled to play in New Zealand next year. Both sides met in the final of the previous ODI World Cup in 2017.
India and England shared two points from the one-off Test and now each game will decide the points. Which will conclude with the T20I series. India played solid cricket in the first game of this tour. After serving the follow-on from England, India batted very well and we saw great resilience from Sneh Rana and Taniya Bhatia. Shafali Verma made her Test debut and scored two half-centuries. She was the player of the match. It is expected that Mithali would hand her the debut ODI cap today.
India were in top form in ODI format but covid break really hurt their game. In the search for the WC title, India will now look to get the best combination for the 2022 ODI WC. Mithali’s troops recently suffered a 4-1 loss to South Africa and it was India’s first assignment after one year. The previous performance in Bristol would surely boost the Indian side and Shafali’s game will also add acceleration part for them in the powerplay.
Meanwhile, England will have a big pressure after securing a draw in the Test match. The current ODI Champions will defend their title after 7 months and they will also look to make their combination ticked. Sophia Dunkley can make her ODI debut today. Surprising part is, Danielle Wyatt missed out the place in the final squad. Georgia Elwiss also failed to get a name in the team squad after the Test appearance. Freya Davies and Sarah Glenn are also back in the roster.
England recently toured New Zealand and won the ODI series 2-1. Beaumont was the top scorer in ODI games with scoring 276 runs in 5 innings at an average of 92. Sciver also scored 171 runs and captain Knight contributed 165 runs. Their last home assignment was in September 2020 when they whitewashed West Indies 5-0 in the T20I series. England has also beaten India when they last met in a bilateral series. It will be a cracking game because India can surprise the English side.
Pitch Report
Bristol’s surface is ideally a pure batting track and it offers good assistance to pacers. Spinners might be impactful in middle-overs so India can try two spinners. Chasing would be slightly tricky if the score is above 260.
Possible XI
England Women
Lauren Winfield Hill, Tammy Beaumont, Heather Knight (c), Natalie Sciver, Amy Ellen Jones (wk), Sophia Dunkley, Freya Davies, Katherine Brunt, Sarah Glenn, Sophie Ecclestone, Kate Cross
India Women
Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Priya Punia/Punam Raut/Jemimah Rodrigues, Mithali Raj (c), Harmanpreet Kaur, Deepti Sharma, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Jhulan Goswami, Pooja Vastrakar, Shikha Pandey, Poonam Yadav/Radha Yadav/Sneh Rana
Key Players
England Women
Tammy Beaumont
378 runs in NZ tour, 66 in Bristol Test
Heather Knight
95 in Test, 165 & 5 wickets in ODI assignments in NZ
India Women
Shafali Verma
Player of the match in the last Test, having a form of her life
Punam Raut
Top-scorer in ODI series against SA, vital 39 in 2nd innings at Bristol
