England Women won the toss and chose to field against India Women in the third T20I of the four-match series at The Cooper Associates County Ground in Taunton on June 2.
India Women began the series strongly with a 38-run victory in the opening match to lead 1-0. However, England responded in the second T20I with a 26-run win, leveling the series 1-1 and setting up a crucial third fixture.
With the series evenly poised, both teams aim to secure a decisive advantage ahead of the fourth T20I following the Taunton game.
England captain Charlotte Dean reflected on her side’s previous victory at Bristol. She said, “We are going to bowl. (About the Bristol win) It was brilliant for us, a real confidence booster, backing up from Chelmsford, and hopefully we can do more of the same today and get the double win. We’ve made no changes. Yeah, same team. (Was there a temptation just to have a look?) I think so, but we want to win this series, and we feel like against India, this is our best side. (And the batting lineup will stay the same?) Yeah.”
India captain Harmanpreet Kaur, after losing the toss, stated the team had hoped to bat first. She said, “Oh, well, we were thinking differently. We wanted to bat only because it’s an important match and we just thought that if we can bat freely and put a decent total on the board, that can help us with the thing. (Is there anything you’d like to tidy up a little bit from that game?) I think it’s only about just keep trusting yourself and just keep believing in your skills and keep doing what the team requires,” Harmanpreet said. “I think that’s what we discussed in the team meeting, just stay positive and keep doing as the team requires. (A nice opportunity here with the series on the line) Yeah, definitely. It’s a good series to prep before the T20 World Cup, and we are having fun, and hopefully this series will give a lot of confidence to head into the World Cup. (Any changes for you?) Yes, we do have one change – Kranti is back in the side in place of Shreyanka,” she added.
Teams:
India Women (Playing XI): Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Yastika Bhatia, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (w), Deepti Sharma, Arundhati Reddy, Kranti Gaud, Shree Charani, Nandni Sharma.
England Women (Playing XI): Sophia Dunkley, Danni Wyatt-Hodge, Amy Jones (w), Alice Capsey, Heather Knight, Freya Kemp, Danielle Gibson, Charlotte Dean (c), Sophie Ecclestone, Linsey Smith, Lauren Bell.