[WATCH] England women’s team gives guard of honor to Jhulan Goswami as she walks out for her final international innings

The England women’s team gave a guard of honor to India women’s legend Jhulan Goswami as she walked out for her final international innings at Lord’s on Saturday, September 24.

England women won the toss and sent India women into bat in the third ODI at Lord’s. The visitors’ batting crumbled and Goswami walked into bat at No. 9 in the 40th over of the innings, with the team’s score reading a disappointing 148 for seven.

As the 39-year-old made her way towards the batting crease, England’s players formed a guard as a mark of appreciation and respect for the legendary Indian cricketer. England Cricket’s official Twitter handle shared a video of the same with the caption:

“For over 20 years Jhulan Goswami has run in, hit a length and blazed a trail. She has bowled nearly 10,000 balls in ODI cricket, and she may just have inspired as many young girls to try cricket. Thanks @JhulanG10, you’re an inspiration.”

It was not a memorable last outing with the bat for Goswami as she was bowled for a golden duck by Freya Kemp.

Earlier, India women got off to a disastrous start after being asked to bat, losing four for 29 inside nine overs. Shafali Verma and Yastika Bhatia were bowled without scoring by Kate Cross, who also trapped India women skipper Harmanpreet Kaur lbw for four.

Smriti Mandhana contributed a fighting 50 before dragging a delivery from Cross onto the stumps. India women kept losing wickets, but Deepti Sharma ensured they crossed at least the 150-run mark. She was unbeaten on 68 off 106 balls as India women were bowled out for 169 in 45.4 overs.

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Harmanpreet Kaur gets emotional ahead of Jhulan Goswami's farewell match

India women’s captain Harmanpreet Kaur was seen in tears ahead of Goswami's farewell international match at Lord’s. The official Twitter handle of BCCI Women shared a few pictures of the Indian team with Goswami in a huddle ahead of the game, with Kaur hugging the veteran pacer in one of the images.

Speaking at a press conference ahead of her final match, Goswami recalled her journey and said:

"Well, you know what when I started, I never thought about playing for such a long time. It was a great experience, every moment I have enjoyed and I have learnt.

"Obviously, Mithali and I have played together since U19 days, we had a great relation both on and off the field. But it was just bringing Team India to a different length on what it was and today it is completely different."

She added:

“That is a journey, we believed that we can change the face of women's cricket, we believed that we can in the top three-four teams in the world and it was a one-day process, it was a long-time process."

Goswami has 253 ODI wickets to her name, the most by any bowler in women's cricket.