Xtra Time Web Desk: Indian women cricketers produced tremendous fight back to win the 2nd T20 against England women by 8 wickets at Hove on Sunday. Chasing 149 runs to win, England was cruising at 105/2 after 13 overs. But disciplined bowling coupled with brilliant fielding restricted the hosts to 140/8, thereby losing the match. The three match T20 series is now leveled at 1-1.
Offie Sneh Rana defended 14 runs in the final over. Leggie Poonam ended with figures of two for 17 in four overs and Deepti one for 18 in four overs. The England innings saw India effecting four run outs. England were cruising with Tammy Beaumont (59) and skipper Heather Knight (30) in the middle but after they were dismissed off successive balls in the 14th over bowled by Deepti Sharma, it made the task a lot tougher for the hosts who still needed 43 off the last 36 balls.
Earlier, India could not capitalise on a blazing start provided by Shafali. The 17-year-old slog swept left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone for a four and six before smashing pacer Katherine Brunt for as many as five boundaries in a row. Ecclestone bounced back strongly in her following over, bowling a maiden and dropping a tough return catch of Shafali. The more experienced Smriti Mandhana (20 off 16) was happy being a spectator at the other end.
However, the game changed after the fall of Shafali and Mandhana in a space of three balls. An out of form Harmanpreet (31 off 25), who promoted herself to number three, and Deepti Sharma (24 off 27) found it tough to maintain the scoring rate.