India emerge victorious in series opener against England

Carrying on their mojo from the T20I series win, India began the ODI series in similar fashion with a comfortable four-wicket victory to take a 1-0 series lead over England . Deepti Sharma scored an unbeaten 62 and was well supported by Jemimah Rodrigues (48) in the chase of 259. But, the win was set up by a Kranti Goud (2-55) and Sneh Rana (2-31) with the ball. Sophia Dunkley (83) and Alice Davidson Richards (53) scored fighting fifties to take the hosts to a respectable score after they were 97 for 4 at one stage.

India struck early on, with Goud bowling an unplayable delivery which nipped back and clipped the bails to see the back of Amy Jones. In an interesting sequence of play, Goud bowled three wide balls on the trot before unleashing the jaffa. The youngster picked up her second with a beautiful inswinger to trap Tammy Beaumont on the pads. Despite being given not-out on-field, DRS came to India's favour and ball-tracking confirmed three reds. Nat Sciver-Brunt and Emma Lamb began a counterattack with four boundaries in the last three overs of the PowerPlay.

India turned to spin at the start of the middle overs but the flurry of boundaries continued for England with the partnership going past 50 as well. But just when things were looking ominous for India, Rana got Lamb to chip one straight to mid-off. The wily offspinner picked up Sciver-Brunt in her next over, as Jemimah Rodrigues took a worldie of a catch at mid-wicket. The two new batters of Dunkley and Davidson Richards brought England firmly back into the contest. They got through a quiet period of play dominated by the Indian spinners before the latter found her first boundary with a loft down the ground in the 27th over.

To India's dismay, both batters were given a reprieve in the middle of the hosts rebuilding their innings and the batters made the most of their second lives. They ensured the score kept ticking over when they weren't finding the boundary and Dunkley brought up a 68-ball 50 on her birthday. Davidson Richards moved to the milestone two overs later but was stumped off Shree Charani, soon after. The last five overs was a productive phase for the hosts with 49 runs scored. Dunkley was the main aggressor, scoring five boundaries in this phase while Sophie Ecclestone hung around and chipped in some useful runs before the half-centurion was dismissed on the last ball of the innings off Amanjot Kaur.

India began their reply in steady fashion. Openers Smriti Mandhana and Pratika Rawal took a couple of overs to get their eye in but the former was very strong on the onside. She brought out the flicks and pulls, especially against Lauren Bell. Rawal was elegant with some backfoot punches to the fence and the pair brought up 1000 partnership runs as a pair. But against the run of play, Mandhana's stay at the crease came to an end after nicking behind.

Despite the wicket, India continued the mojo with Rawal and Harleen Deol. The latter scored three boundaries off Lauren Filer but England introduced Sophie Ecclestone after the PowerPlay - for an eight over spell - and after keeping the scoring tight from her end, had Rawal bowled. Soon after, in a careless bit of running, Deol was run out after not grounding her bat in the crease. Things continued to go the hosts way as Harmanpreet Kaur was trapped LBW by Charlie Dean - the decision initially given not out was overturned by DRS.

It was then the partnership 90 runs between Rodrigues and Deepti that turned the game. Both batters scored quick boundaries off Dean while Lamb was too erratic with her control. Deepti then slog-swept Bell into the stands as the run scoring continued to gather momentum. The hosts did not appeal for a ball that struck Deepti on the thigh pad - but ball-tracking showed three reds as England missed out on a golden chance for a wicket.

But they did strike twice with the wickets of Rodrigues and Richa Ghosh in quick succession to bring them back in the contest while Deepti moved to 50. Eventually, Amanjot and Deepti were clinical in finding the boundaries and took India past the finish line with 10 balls to spare.

Brief Scores:England 258/6 in 50 overs (Sophia Dunkley 83, Alice Davidson Richards 53; Sneh Rana 2-31, Kranti Goud 2-55) lost to India 262/6 in 48.4 overs (Deepti Sharma 62*, Jemimah Rodrigues 48; Charlie Dean 2-52, Sophie Ecclestone 1-34) by four wickets