Guwahati: England’s bowlers Katherine Brunt and Linsey Smith helped England to take an unassailable lead in the three-match T20 series as they defeated the hosts in the second T20 by five wickets at the Baraspara Stadium in Guwahati on Thursday.
England chased down the target in 19.1 overs.
Chasing a score of 112 runs, England openers once again provided a solid start as Danielle Wyatt (64*) and Tammy Beaumont (8) calmly kept on scoring the runs without taking any significant risk.
Radha Yadav dismissed Beaumont in the fifth over of the innings raising the hopes for the Indians to make a come-back in the match.
Amy Jones(5), Natalie Sciver (1) and Heather Knight (2) were dismissed cheaply by Poonam Yadav and Ekta Bisht leaving England 56 for four.
But Wyatt (64*) and Lauren Winfield (29) stitched together a partnership of 47 runs keeping the run-scoring going for England ensuring that they do not suffer from any more hiccups.
Deepti Sharma dismissed Winfield in the 17th over but it was just too late for the Indians.
Ekta Bisht took maximum wickets for the Indians as she picked up two wickets.
Earlier, England won the toss and decided to bowl first, the Indian team could only put up a modest total of 111 runs on the board for the loss of eight wickets.
Openers Smriti Mandhana(12) and Harleen Deol (14) got the team off to a flyer as they posted 23 runs inside the first two overs.
But England came back strongly as Katherine Brunt dismissed Mandhana (12) in the third over of the innings and even Jemimah Rodrigues (2) fell quickly in the fifth over of the innings.
Linsey Smith struck in her very first over dismissing Harleen Deol, reducing India to 35 for three at the end of six overs.
Mithali Raj (20) and Deepti Sharma (18) stitched together a partnership of 34 runs in the middle to give the Indian team some respite but Amy Jones produced an extraordinary piece of fielding to produce a run-out to send Deepti back into the pavilion.
The team kept on losing wickets at regular intervals failing to put up any kind of challenge against the English bowlers.
Katherine Brunt was the star with the ball for the English team as she picked up three wickets and conceded just 17 runs in her four overs.
India would now look to salvage their pride in the third and final T20 of the three-match series.
India takes on England in the final T20 on Saturday, March 9 at Guwahati.
Brief Scores: England Women 114/5(Dani Wyatt 64*, L Winfield 29, E Bisht 2-23, Poonam Yadav 1-18) defeated India Women 111/8 (Mithali Raj 20, BS Fulmali 18, KH Brunt 3-17, LCN Smith 2-11) by five wickets.
[source_without_link]ANI[/source_without_link]