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Harmanpreet century, Goud six-for seal 2-1 series win for India
Harmanpreet Kaur’s century and Kranti Goud’s six-wicket haul handed India a 13-run victory over England and a 2-1 ODI series win in a high-scoring tour finale.
Harmanpreet’s 84-ball 102 asked England to post what would have been a world record run-chase of 319 in their last competitive match before the World Cup in India and Sri Lanka.
Despite a fighting 162-run stand between third-wicket pair NatSciver-Btunt and Emma Lamb, which rescued England from 8 for 2 after Goud had struck twice inside the first three overs of their pursuit, England were found wanting once both those batters were gone.
Goud finished with 6 for 52 to be the pick of India’s bowlers, who met with some resistance at Chester-le-Street which made for a margin of defeat that flattered the hosts.
It wasn’t until the 31st over that India struck again, via Shree Charani’s removal of Lamb for 68 and, once Deepti Sharma had Sciver-Brunt caught behind two runs shy of a century, India seized back control.
Unlike England, India will have three more ODIs before their home tournament when they host reigning champions Australia between September 14-20 with the World Cup starting 10 days after that series concludes.
Although it was a closer-run game than initially promised, India looked a class above England through their batting innings.
Harmanpreet, who became the third Indian player to pass 4000 runs in women’s ODIs, arrested a lean run of form by passing fifty for the first time in 13 innings in the format. Since scoring 54 in the 50-over warm-up match against an ECB Development XI at the start of the tour, her best score in either of the white-ball series against England had been 26 in the fourth T20I.
She was well supported by fifty from Jemmimah Rodrigues, with whom she shared a 110-run stand for the fourth wicket, while Smriti Mandhana and Harleen Deol added 45 runs apiece and Richa Ghosh contributed an excellent 18-ball cameo to go unbeaten on 38.
Rodrigues took a liking to offspinner Charlie Dean, helping herself to three fours twice from consecutive overs accessing all areas of the ground.
Harmanpreet was also dealing largely in boundaries, clipping Linsey Smith over mid-off and sweeping over square leg.
Another four over square leg took her past 90 and, after Rodrigues gloved an attempted pull off Lauren Filer to Amy Jones behind the stumps moments after brining up her fifty, Harmanpreet raised her seventh ODI century with a push through mid-off.
England missed the chance to remove Hamanpreet on 22 with the score 132 for 2 when Filer struck the pad but the home side failed to review with replays suggesting she would have been out. She eventually fell chipping a drive to Sciver-Brunt, who took a sharp diving catch at cover.
After revealing in a pre-match interview that she considered quitting cricket in the aftermath of the off-field drama surrounding England’s T20 World Cup and Ashes failures, Sophie Ecclestone was by far England’s most economical bowler with 1 for 28 from 10 overs. But her counterparts all paid heavily for a solitary wicket each as India’s batters dominated, with 120 runs coming off the last 10 overs.
England’s openers both fell cheaply to Goud the 21-year-old right-arm seamer playing her fifth match for her country. She bowled Tammy Beaumont with a beauty of an in-ducker that slid between bat and pad and had Deepti to thank for removing Jones with a spectacular one-handed catch leaping to her right at short third.
England were 22 for 2 at the end of the powerplay but thereafter Sciver-Brunt and Lamb set about rebuilding the innings with more gusto.
Lamb survived a caught-and-bowled chance to Charani on 58 but Charani made amends a short time later, bowling Lamb on the sweep to put England back under pressure.
No sooner had Sciver-Brunt beaten Sneh Rana’s dive at fine leg for her 11th four of the innings, than Deepti struck to remove the biggest danger.
Sciver-Brunt knew she was gone, as did Deepti, who vigorously called for the DRS without consulting her captain when umpire Jacqueline Williams remained unmoved by her appeal for caught behind. Harmanpreet too signalled for a review as Sciver-Brunt began making her way back to the changeroom, UltraEdge confirming the ball had come off her glove as Ghosh dived, juggled and gathered down the leg side.
Sophia Dunkley was run out in a mix-up with Alice Davidson-Richards, who turned her back as her partner chanced Goud’s arm at point only to see Ghosh break the stumps with Dunkley a long way from home.
Rodrigues took two excellent catches in the deep to remove Dean and Ecclestone before Goud dismissed Davidson-Richards and Filer with consecutive balls to seal her five-for then claimed a bonus sixth when she had Lauren Bell caught by Harmanpreet as England were bowled out with one ball remaining.
Brief scores:
India Women 318 for 5 in 50 overs (Smriti Mandhana 45, Harlene Deol 45, Harmanpreet Kaur 102, Jemmimah Rodrigues 50, Richa Ghosh 38*; Sophie Ecclestone 1-28) beat England Women 305 in 49.5 overs (Nat Sciver-Brunt 98, Emma Lamb 68, Alice Davidson Richards 44; Kranti Goud 6-52, Shree Charani 2-68) by 13 runs
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[Cricbuzz]
Why did David Miller refuse a single off the penultimate delivery with Delhi Capitals needing 2 off 2? It’ll be spoken of for a while, but not inside the Gujarat Titans change room. Because Prasidh Krishna bowled a nerveless slower bouncer off the final delivery that Miller missed, and Jos Buttler then nailed a direct hit with an underarm throw from behind the stumps to run out Kuldeep Yadav, clinching a dramatic first win for GT in IPL 2026.
Despite being adjudged run out on the field, Miller wasn’t in the mood to concede defeat, and reviewed the final ball for a possible wide. But when replays confirmed what he had perhaps known, he was crestfallen. Equally distraught in the dugout was K L Rahul, whose 52-ball 92 set the game up for DC but for one run.
It was GT’s first win of the tournament and the first loss for DC after starting the campaign with two wins in a row.
Thirty-six needed off 12. A bruised finger that didn’t make it easy for him to grip the bat had forced Miller to retire hurt with DC needing 81 off 42. But when Tristan Stubbs was run-out in the 17th over, Miller returned hoping to play second fiddle to Rahul. Instead, he was now expected to deliver a box-office hit with Rahul nicking behind off a full Mohammed Siraj delivery two balls later.
Miller nearly delivered what was expected, as he went 6, 4, 6 off Siraj, repeatedly peppering the short leg-side boundary. At the other end, Vipraj Nigam also ramped four off a short delivery to bring the equation down to a manageable 13 off the final over.
Prasidh was tasked to bowl the final over. His three overs prior to that had been walloped for 41; Rahul, his state mate, had climbed into him earlier in the night. But all that would’ve been forgiven if Prasidh delivered a gun final over. That GT could only have four fielders out due to a slow over rate added to his challenge. And he nearly succumbed.
Nigam made room and swung cleanly to hit the first ball to the long-off fence, but a rush of blood had him swipe the second delivery to Shubman Gill at mid-off. With DC now needing nine off four, Kuldeep gently deflected his first ball to deep third to leave the chase in Miller’s hands.
With the equation down to 8 off 3, Prasidh bowled a slot-ball that Miller walloped over long-off. But with two needed, Miller inexplicably refused a single to take it all upon himself to finish the deal. He couldn’t connect on the final ball, and Prasidh belted a roar. GT had pulled one from under DC’s rug in dramatic circumstances.
After scores of 1 and 0 in his first two games, Rahul announced himself with a 29-ball half-century that was as pleasing as they come for large parts. It was also one that didn’t have the baggage of him playing run-accumulator, like he has tended to in the past while opening the batting. This Rahul was fun, free and fearless and he helped DC overcome a few roadblocks along the way, like when they lost two wickets in two deliveries to Rashid Khan at the halfway mark.
Rahul was particularly menacing against the fast bowlers, and it began with a wristy flick that he sent way back over deep square off Kagiso Rabada. The early jitters out of the way – if he even had some inkling of them – he batted like a man possessed, fearlessly climbing into length balls from Prasidh over cover, and slapping disdainfully over point.
He is good, but where is the Rashid of old, they asked. Turns out he hadn’t gone anywhere. After he conceded just nine in his first two with DC rampant, he returned to dismiss Nitish Rana in his dramatic third over, the 10th of the innings. Having been given out lbw earlier, only for Rana to overturn the decision through DRS, he was out a few balls later when he miscued a googly to Sai Sudharsan at long-off. This was Rana’s third sub-20 score of the season.
This brought the in-form Sameer Rizvi to the middle, and he lasted all of one delivery as Rashid snuck through his inside-edge with a ripping googly to briefly elicit jitters in the DC camp. This is when Miller entered, before briefly exiting with seven overs left. But in the same over, when Rashid had Axar Patel slice one to Glenn Phillips running back from cover, GT started to have an opening.
On any other night, Rashid’s spell would have cracked open the game. The fact that DC were still in it despite these wickets was down to Rahul. It needed the skilful Siraj to dismiss him with DC needing 45 off three overs. By then, the pressure was telling.
That GT were eventually able to get over the line was down to their run cushion, made possible thanks to half-centuries from Jos Buttler, Gill and Washington Sundar. Buttler looked unshackled, hitting four sixes off his first 15 deliveries en route a bruising half-century, while Gill played himself in and then allayed fears of neck spasms during his takedown of Kuldeep with the slog sweep. Then Washington, promoted to No. 4, struck his maiden IPL fifty to shore up the innings.
Even so, GT managed just 49 off the last five. On another day, this may have proved to be costly. It didn’t on Wednesday, and for that, they have Rashid to thank.
Brief scores:
Gujarat Titans 210 for 4 in 20 overs (Sai Sudarshan 12, Shubman Gill 70, Jos Buttler 52, Washington Sundar 55, Glenn Phillips 14*; Mukesh Kumar 2-55, Lungi Ngidi 1-24, Kuldeep Yadav 1-42 ) beat Delhi Capitals 209 for 8 in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 41, KL Rahul 92, David Miller 41*, Vipraj Nigam 12; Mohammed Siraj 1-42, Rashid Khan 3-17, Prasidh Krishna 2-52) by one run
[Cricinfo]
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