Harmanpreet Kaur and her women were back in action as they clashed against hosts England in the first T20I encounter of the highly anticipated series. The match was delayed owing to rain and weather conditions on Saturday, September 10, at the Riverside Ground in Durham. However, it did not affect the course of the match as the stipulated 20 overs were played out by both sides.
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One of the major talking points of the match came in the very first over when England’s debutant Lauren Bell bowled a seemingly quick delivery but nowhere near to what the speedometer denoted. The speedometer displayed that Lauren’s delivery clocked an astounding 107 mph, which was faster than Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar’s quickest delivery clocked a 100 mph.
#T20WorldCup #TeamIndiaOut Of 10, How Many Marks Would You Give BCCI For Team India’s World Cup Squad?— News18 CricketNext (@cricketnext) September 12, 2022
It was pretty obvious that the speedometer was faulty and was constantly displaying inaccurate speeds. The speedometer had previously registered Bell’s fourth delivery of the same over as 101 mph that was expertly hit for a boundary by the Indian opener Smriti Mandhana. The second ball of the over had also registered 107 mph as well.
Lauren Bell would say- Shoaib Akhtar, where you at mate?😂@shoaib100mph your username has been put under trouble! #ENGvIND #EngvsInd #ENGwvINDw #englandwomen #Indiawomen #IndiaCricket #Cricket #CricketTwitter pic.twitter.com/YgXzamZ6qn— Vaishnavi Iyer (@Vaishnaviiyer14) September 10, 2022
England was dominant all through the match. Despite missing many of their mainstays, including the likes of Heather Knight, Katherine Brunt, and Natalie Sciver, the English side put up a clinical performance against India. The stand-in captain Amy Jones marshaled her troops well and her effective bowling changes were spot on.
Leg spinner Sarah Glenn bamboozled the Indian batters and scalped career-best T20I figures of 4 for 23. Though the Indian batters got decent starts, none of them were able to put the pedal on the gas as wickets kept falling at regular intervals. Owing to another batting collapse, India could manage to post just 132 runs on the board.
Defending a modest total, India’s sloppy performance on the field aided England to cruise to the target in just 13 overs. Shefali Varma dropped a regulation catch of England opener Sophie Dunkley who then made India pay for their mistake with a blistering knock of 61 runs. Numerous miss-fields from the Indian fielders led to their thumping 9-wicket defeat against England in the first match of the series.
The Indian side will look to revamp their performance and would be desperate to level the series on Tuesday, September 13, when the two sides will clash in the second match of the series.
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