Chandigarh: Harmanpreet Kaur-led India have breached a milestone they never did before. When they lift the trophy on Saturday, it will be the first time that an Indian team lays hands on the trophy after winning a T20I series in England.
While it exposed the work that in-transition England have yet to put in, it showed the progress that India has been making in the format.
In the fourth T20I at Old Trafford in Manchester on Wednesday, India continued their dominance as they beat the hosts by six wickets to take an unassailable 3-1 lead in the series.
While Kaur and Deepti Sharma earlier credited the national camps back home before the series for the preparedness, Kaur also attributed a large part of this success to the exposure and game time the Women’s Premier League has provided to Indian players.
“We have now played three seasons of WPL. We have got a lot of experience from that. All of us played that tournament and we got a lot of positivity. Good sign that we are now able to execute in international cricket also,” she said after the match.
She added: “We worked on all our plans (in the camps), accordingly we have executed everything here. Everybody knew their role and accordingly we all played.”
Earlier in the match, chasing a mere 127, openers Shafali Verma (31 off 19) and Smriti Mandhana (32 off 31) laid the foundation. They raced to 56 runs in the first seven overs. Verma hit six boundaries and looked in supreme form before she was removed by Charlie Dean (1/29).
Jemimah Rodrigues (24 not out off 22) and Kaur (26 off 25) then stitched a 42-ball 48-run partnership to ensure they took India across the line with 18 balls to spare.
Spinners Shree Charani (2/30), Radha Yadav (2/15) and Deepti Sharma (1/29) curtailed England under 130 runs. England heavily missed injured all-rounder and captain Nat Sciver-Brunt, denting the hosts’ both batting and bowling.
Opener Sophia Dunkley top-scored making 22 runs off 19 balls and stand-in captain Tammy Beaumont contributed with 19-ball 20 to help England go past the 100-run mark as others struggled against spin. Sophie Ecclestone (16*) and Issy Wong (11*) provided some brief resistance but it was too little, too late.
England had eked out a narrow five-run win in the third T20I and had hoped to continue the momentum but India proved too strong for them. They will be playing for pride at Edgbaston in the fifth T20I while India look to extend their dominance even to the three-match ODI series that follows.