Team still well placed to qualify for semifinals
Paying the price for another top-order malfunction, India suffered a setback in their topsy-turvy campaign in the 2022 Women's ODI World Cup when they went down to defending champs England, who scored their first win in the tournament, by four wickets in a low-scoring game at Mount Maunganui on Wednesday.
Putting in an inspired show with their backs to the wall after having suffered defeats in their first three games, England, facing a do-or-die situation, came out all guns blazing with the ball, bundling India out for a meagre 134 in 36.2 overs.
While their fielding was electric, the star of the show for them was off-spinner Charlie Dean, who, playing in just her second game in the World Cup, returned career-best figures of four for 23. It was experienced seamer Anya Shrubsole, though, who provided them the initial breakthroughs, castling Yastika Bhatia (8) in the fourth over, and then getting India skipper Mithali Raj (1) - in the midst of a horror run - caught superbly at cover point by Sophia Dunkley.
Winning by 112 balls to spare, England gave their net run rate a boost. Though they wobbled a bit in the chase, losing six wickets, they reached home in just 31.2 overs, thanks to fine knocks by skipper Heather Knight (53 not out, 72b, 8x4) and Nat Sciver (45, 46b, 8x4). It was a match-up between the finalists of the 2017 WODI World Cup which saw England triumph again. Placed at the seventh spot with two points, they need to keep winning to make it to the semis from here.
Though India, with two wins and two losses in four games, are placed at the third spot currently, the road ahead doesn't look easy for them, considering that they next take on Australia, who, having won their first four matches, are on a roll at the moment, at Auckland on March 19.
To make it worse for them, their only other in-form batter apart from Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur, who took a stunning catch at mid-on, jogging backwards and launching into a dive to send back Amy Jones (10), went off the ground in the later stages after suffering an injury to her knee.
India's pathetic show with the bat, which saw them crumble to 86 for seven in the 25th over, was in complete contrast to their stupendous performance against West Indies in the last game, which saw them score 317 for eight. The only decent contributions with the bat for India came from Mandhana (35) and Richa Ghosh (33).
SCORES: India women 134 in 36. 2 overs (S Mandhana 35, R Ghosh 33; Dean 4-23) lost to England women 136/6 in 31. 2 overs (H Knight 53*, N Sciver 45; Meghna 3-26)
