ENG-W Vs IND-W Preview, 3rd T20I: India look For Better Effort From Middle-Order Batters In Series Decider

Indian team will expect more from the dependable duo of Deepti Sharma and Richa Ghosh as it aims to sort out its middle order woes going into the third and final women's T20 International against hosts England Taunton on Tuesday.

With the series locked at 1-1, a victory in the decider will not just be another overseas bilateral win but a shot in the arm for either team before the start of the Women's T20 World Cup later this month.

For India, this series is also the dress rehearsal to check out the ideal combinations based on English conditions going into the marquee event.

In the first couple of games, Yastika Bhatia with a half-century and a 30 odd has by far looked the best batter. Jemimah Rodrigues also got a fifty while the elegant Smriti Mandhana and destructive Shafali Verma got starts in the second match.

However, in both games India lost momentum towards the last five overs and the big-hitter Richa hasn't exactly fired in both games.

In the first game, fabulous batting by Bhatia and Rodrigues had ensured that India ended up with a healthy 188/7 despite only 40 runs being scored between overs 16 and 20.

In the second game, India were sitting pretty at 70 for 1 in a chase of 169 but it was an unmitigated disaster between overs 16 and 20 when they were reduced to 28 for five.

Save Richa, there aren't many six-hitters and skipper Harmanpreet, who is perhaps the cleanest aerial hitter in the team, will have to take the onus of batting till the end of 20 overs and take the total closer to 190-200, which is eight out of ten times a winning score in women's cricket.

Rodrigues looked to bank on her experience of playing in the Women's Super League and said the wicket at this venue is generally favourable to the batters.

"I have played here before in the Super League. I had got good runs also here, so good memories from here. But what I know about this pitch and the conditions is that it is a very good pitch to bat on," Rodrigues told reporters on the eve of the match.

"(The venue has a) fast outfield, it comes on nicely on the bat. Looking at the conditions, there might be a little swing, but apart from that I think it is a good pitch for the batters," she added.

For England also, batting has been a concern, as Amy Jones' 67 is the only half-century across two games while most of the other seasoned batters got starts but couldn't carry on with the momentum for sustained periods of time.

Teams:

India: Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Smriti Mandhana (VC), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Bharti Fulmali, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (WK), Sree Charani, Yastika Bhatia (WK), Nandni Sharma, Arundhati Reddy, Renuka Thakur, Kranti Gaud, Shreyanka Patil, Radha Yadav.

England: Em Arlott, Tammy Beaumont, Lauren Bell, Alice Capsey, Charlie Dean, Sophia Dunkley, Sophie Ecclestone, Lauren Filer, Amy Jones, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Paige Scholfield, Linsey Smith, Danni Wyatt-Hodge, Issy Wong.

Match starts at 11:00pm IST.