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India's women's team produced a complete performance on Day 2 to move closer towards victory in the one-off Test against England on Friday at the DY Patil Sports Academy.
At the end of Day 2, India posted a total of 186/6 in 42 overs, with skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and Pooja Vastrakar unbeaten with respective scores of 44(67) and 17(41) respectively. Deepti Sharma's spin spun the England team around completely as she walked away with a five-fer. She romped up the entire middle order to ensure that the hosts walked away with a healthy 292-run lead. India kicked off the final session, with openers Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana taking the fight to the opposition bowlers. In the second over she launched the ball high in the air which sailed over comfortably into the stands. She found the fence in the third ball of the over taking India's lead past the 300-run mark. Shafali on the other end, rode on her luck as she struggled to time the ball correctly. Lauren Bell made the youngster run for her money but didn't get support from her teammates. She set Shafali perfectly, found an outside edge, but could only see it getting dropped by the second slip fielder. On the next ball, another edge followed but the ball landed safely onto the ground. Those two moments and Smriti's fearless style of cricket helped the youngster time the ball to perfection. After finding her first boundary, she danced around the wicket to find a beautiful six-over long-on. England managed to finally get the breakthrough with Sophie Ecclestone dismissing the southpaw for 26(29). The floodgate opened and wickets continued to tumble like a deck of cards. A couple of short partnerships were stitched up but couldn't sustain on the crease for long. Earlier in the day, India posted a total of 428 following three quick wickets. Deepti had the opportunity to get herself a big score but fell short just like the rest of the batters. England dropped a couple of catches but it didn't prove to be too expensive. The visitors set out to bat and ended up getting caught off-guard twice before the Lunch. Sophia Dunkley and skipper Heather Knight were the two victims who got undone by the pace duo of Renuka Thakur and Pooja Vastrakar respectively. After Lunch, it was a complete massacre with Deepti making it hard for England batters to spend some time on the pitch. Nat Sciver-Brunt showed some fight as she amassed 59 but got bested by Sneh Rana. They lost their last six wickets for a mere 10 runs. Deepti was brought into the attack and produced a remarkable spell of 5/7 in just 5.3 overs. The final onslaught forced the visitors to bundle out on 136. Brief Score: India 428 & 186/6 (Harmanpreet Kaur 44*, Shafali Verma 33; Charlotte Dean 4-68) vs England 136 (Nat Sciver-Brunt 59; Deepti Sharma 5-7, Sneh Rana 2-25). (ANI)
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