England lost by a single wicket to India in the first one-day international in Nagpur, despite an eye-catching performance from the teenage spinner Sophie Ecclestone.
The hosts had looked to be heading for an easy victory early on as England slipped to 102 for five but Fran Wilson (43) and Dani Hazell (33) batted well to help the visitors to a competitive total of 207.
India’s innings was led by a brilliant 86 from Smriti Mandhan and they were 166 for three chasing 208 to win but were derailed by some spectacular bowling, most notably from Ecclestone, who took four for 37.
That left India in a perilous position at 190 for nine needing 18 runs for victory but the last-wicket pair of Ekta Bisht and Poonam Yadav saw them to a dramatic victory.
Anya Shrubsole said: “It was a brilliant and tight game. For a long time we looked like we were out of it but we managed to nearly get a win.”
“It was always really tight there at the end and credit to India for getting over the line. We showed a tremendous amount of fight to drag ourselves into the game.”
The stand-in England captain added: “It would be nice in the next game if one of our batters went on to get that 80 or 90 that Mandhana got. That really helps and sets you up. We bowled too many extras in a pretty tight game and probably we can improve on our fielding too.
“We’ve always said we’re never the perfect team so playing on a different pitch like this is a good experience and it was India’s turn and not ours.”
