Nottingham, Jun 28 (PTI) Stand-in skipper Smriti Mandhana smashed her maiden T20 International hundred to power India to a commanding 210 for 5 against England in the first match here on Saturday.
Mandhana (112, 62 balls) was aggression and confidence personified from the word go and she made up for the struggles of her opening partner Shafali Verma (20, 22 balls). Her knock is the highest for India in T20Is, surpassing Harmanpreet Kaur’s 103.
Mandhana, who led the team in the absence of regular captain Harmanpreet, and Shafali milked 77 runs for the opening wicket off 8.3 overs as India raced off the block.
Shafali’s dismissal did not deter Mandhana as the left-hander raised a further 94 runs for the second wicket with an equally aggressive Harleen Deol (43, 23 balls), who was dropped on 26 by Danny Wyatt-Hodge off off-spinner Alice Capsey.
Mandhana did not give any such chances to England, and she started off with three boundaries off left-arm spinner Linsey Smith in the fourth over, and hardly took her foot off the accelerator.
Later, she also punished another left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone for two sixes in the seventh over as Indian innings chugged along.
At the other end, Deol relied more on sweeps to fetch boundaries, using the general lack of direction of English bowlers on the day till she fell to Lauren Bell.
Mandhana soon went past 87, her previous best in T20Is, and touched the three-figure mark for the first time in her career that has 31 fifties.
Mandhana, who eventually was dismissed by Ecclestone, reached the cherished mark with two successive boundaries off pacer Bell, who was England’s most successful bowler (3/27).
Bell removed Richa Ghosh (12) and Jemimah Rodrigues (0) in the 18th over to bring some temporary relief to the home side, but India had already reached a position of strength by then.
