India vs England - Cricket at Commonwealth Games 2022: The Indian women's cricket team is playing a semi-final match against England in the ongoing CWG 2022 in Birmingham. Women's cricket has been included in the Commonwealth Games for the first time in history. India won the toss in the semi-final vs England after which captain Harmanpreet Kaur opted to bat first. Senior opener Smriti Mandhana gave an explosive start to her team to put the hosts England on the backfoot.
Smriti Mandhana scored fifty off just 23 balls
Smriti Mandhana attacked the England bowlers from the very first ball of her innings. She completed her fifty off just 23 balls. This is the fastest fifty from India in Women's T20 International cricket. When Smriti completed her fifty, her opening partner Shefali Verma was batting unbeaten on just 5 runs. India had scored 64 runs for no loss of wicket in the powerplay.
The fastest top-3 fifties in T20 International cricket for India have come out of Smriti Mandhana's bat. She has hit T20 fifties in 24 and 25 balls before today's CWG match against England. With this, a 1000 runs partnership between Shefali Verma and Smriti Mandhana has also been completed while opening the batting. This is the first Indian women's pair to add 1000 runs as openers.
India were in full attacking mode in the first 6 overs, but after that, the English bowlers made a comeback. Team India could only manage 164 runs for 5 wickets in 20 overs. Smriti's innings (61 runs off 32 balls) included 8 fours and 3 sixes. Jemima Rodrigues scored 44 not out off 31 balls. Middle order batters Harmanpreet Kaur and Deepti Sharma failed to score quick runs. Shefali Verma too batted slowly as she faced 17 balls to score only 15 runs.