India choke at death to send England to semifinals

Deepti Sharma's all-round effort (4/51 & 57-ball 50) went in vain as India choked in the late overs of the run-chase and handed England a 4-run win in Indore on Sunday. It was the third successive loss in a high-scoring encounter for the hosts in the ongoing World Cup. However, with this win, England have become the third team to qualify for the semifinals.

India were cruising in the run-chase till the fall of Smriti Mandhana, who departed 12 short of a century. Needing 55 runs off the last 53 balls, Indian batters struggled to find boundaries at regular intervals. And as the scoring rate went up, their desperation to muscle big shots went in vain, managing only six boundaries in the last 10 overs.

Even as India had lost Pratika Rawal early in the chase, Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur's 125-run stand had provided them with a solid platform, which was only consolidated later by Deepti, who stitched a 67-run partnership with Mandhana, who had played quite an effective but uncharacteristic innings, trading her trademark free-flowing strokeplay with more cautious nudges and glances as the English spinners kept attacking her pads.

To begin with, she was largely playing a secondary role in the company of Harleen Deol and Harmanpreet. In the powerplay, in fact, she had faced only 15 deliveries, and by the fall of her wicket in the 42nd over, she had faced only 94 balls.

However, on a flat wicket with a fast outfield, it was only a matter of finding gaps to add to the boundary count for the batters. Harleen, who struggled against Lauren Bell's variations, still got some momentum going courtesy five such crisp boundaries. Harmanpreet, who was in much better touch, worked smartly with the field placements to ensure a low-panic century-stand.

Eventually, it was one such deft cut on the up, which found the short third fielder and ended her innings soon after she had brought up her half-century.

Charlie Dean was fairly effective early on. She cut short Harleen's innings with an arm ball which the batter failed to pick and was trapped legbefore on the backfoot. Similarly, a sharply turning offbreak had Harmanpreet pinged on the backfoot, but a review - suggesting surprisingly that it took an edge of the bat - saved the Indian skipper.

Sophie Ecclestone was largely ineffective with her spell on Sunday, but in her last over she bagged the crucial wicket of Deepti, whose attempt to hit a six went in vain and she was caught in the deep, pushing the pressure on Amanjot Kaur and Sneh Rana to complete the chase.

In some ways, with ample assistance for the batters, England's score of 288 seemed below-par. However, India's decision to go a batter shorter, by replacing Jemimah Rodrigues for Renuka Thakur proved pivotal in the end. Even as Sneh Rana and Amanjot Kaur swung their bats around while the England bowlers took the pace off the ball, there wasn't much success.

Earlier in the day, England made a solid start with Tammy Beaumont and Amy Jones putting on a 73-run stand for the opening wicket. Renuka Thakur and Kranti Goud were a bit erratic, but Beaumont's conservative approach early on ensured that it was only Jones who was cashing in on the errors in lines. India struggled with their reviews through this partnership - missing one and wasting another.

Deepti Sharma's introduction into the attack in the 16th over brought India their first breakthrough as Beaumont missed a sweep and was cleaned up, handing the spinner her 150th ODI wicket.

Jones continued finding boundaries and brought up her half-century, but departed soon after chipping a delivery to short midwicket. Despite the loss of both the openers in quick succession, England did not lose momentum. On a flat track and a fast outfield, Heather Knight and Nat Sciver-Brunt took little trouble en route their 113-run stand for the third wicket.

Sciver-Brunt got going by putting away too poor deliveries for boundaries, but thereafter, her scoring was kept in check by the in-field. Singles weren't easy to come but Knight was quick to pounce on the fuller deliveries and find boundaries at regular intervals. Sciver-Brunt was eventually dismissed on 39 when her attempt to go over the cover fielder failed. However, Knight continued to score freely and managed to notch up her third ODI century with an edge that raced away to the boundary.

Knight was soon run out while attempting a quick double, and with it, England's momentum was sucked out. Despite getting a solid platform to blaze away in the death overs, the new English batters struggled to put away the India trio for boundaries as frequently as they would've wished. Their attempts to muscle away slow deliveries went largely in vain as they kept finding fielders. In the last six overs, they managed only 42 runs, losing five wickets and were eventually restricted to 288 for 8.

Brief Scores: England 288/8 in 50 overs (Heather Knight 109, Amy Jones 56; Deepti Sharma 4-51, Shree Charani 2-68) beat India 284/6 in 50 overs (Smriti Mandhana 88, Harmanpreet Kaur 70; Nat-Sciver Brunt 2-47, Linsey Smith 1-40) by 4 runs