Windies humiliated, heartbreak for Indian women and more - Cricket News Today, 9th March 2019

India women suffer second straight T20I whitewash

The Indian women’s team have taken some giant strides in the 50-over format but have fallen short in T20I cricket. They have now crashed to their second straight series whitewash. Last month they suffered a 3-0 drubbing at the hands of New Zealand and now, it was England’s turn as India bottled up an easy chase.

The Indian spinners bowled really well to restrict England to 119. The spinners combined to take six wickets as they didn’t allow the England batters to get away. In reply, Smriti Mandhana’s fifty put India on course for a consolation win. India lost their skipper at the end of the 13th over and at that stage, they needed 33 runs in 7 overs. However, some tight bowling pulled the game to the last over.

India still had Mithali Raj batting at one end on 30 and with three runs to get and six wickets in hand, India were favourites. However, Kate Cross bowled three successive dot balls before picking up back-to-back wickets to bring it down to three off the final ball. Shikha Pandey could get only a single off the last ball as England stole a one-run win and completed a series white-wash.