Alice Capsey scored 82 and Heather Knight struck an unbeaten 70 to power England to a series-clinching six-wicket victory over India in the third and final women’s T20I in Taunton on Tuesday.
England won the series 2-1 leaving India with many questions before they kick-off their campaign at the Women’s T20 World Cup, starting later this month.
Chasing 181, England gunned down the target by reaching 184 for 4 in 18.3 overs. It was their second-highest successful run chase in T20Is, which was powered by the 137-run stand for the fourth wicket between Capsey and Knight.
England really recovered well after being rocked by early wickets in the powerplay, when they lost Sophia Dunkley, Danni Wyatt-Hodge and Amy Jones cheaply, leaving the hosts struggling at 38 for three.
Pacer Kranti Goud making a return gave India an excellent start by dismissing both Hodge and Jones early. Hodge was bowled by a superb delivery that nipped back sharply and crashed into the stumps.
After the early setbacks, England rebuilt through Capsey and Knight. The pair put India’s bowlers under pressure with a brilliant partnership. Capsey brought up her half-century in just 27 balls, while Knight reached her fifty in 31 deliveries.
Once she got to her fifty, Capsey started to play attacking cricket. She took on left-arm spinner Sree Charani, smashing a four followed by two sixes in the same over.
Capsey was eventually dismissed by Arundhati Reddy, but by then England needed only six more runs and comfortably completed the chase.
Earlier, India captain Harmanpreet Kaur recovered from a slow start to score 56 off 40 balls. She was well supported by Deepti Sharma, who made 32 from 24 deliveries, as India posted 180 for five.
The experienced pair added 67 runs for the fifth wicket to boost India’s total.
Even though Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana fell early, India ended the powerplay at a healthy 57 for two, thanks to the fluent knocks from Yastika Bhatia (32 off 18) and Jemimah Rodrigues (29 off 19).
After taking some time to settle in, Harmanpreet found her rhythm and struck Lauren Bell for a couple of boundaries. She reached her fifty off 38 balls in the final over of the innings. It was her 17th T20I half-century and her first against England.
Her knock helped India put up a competitive score, but it was not enough as England chased down the target comfortably.
