Dunkley, Wyatt-Hodge and Filer keep England in the hunt

England have managed to keep their head above the water in the T20I series despite plenty of wobbles along the way, as they defeated India by five runs in an exciting last-ball finish in the third T20I at The Oval.

Having lost the first two matches, England looked like they finally clicked as a batting unit when Sophia Dunkley and Danni Wyatt-Hodge added 137 runs for the first wicket but the strong opening alliance was following by a dramatic implosion. The hosts frittered away nine wickets for just 34 runs in the space of less than five overs and had to settle for a score of 171/9, which suddenly gave a genuine shot at sealing the series.

India’s chase started began on a bright note as Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma added 85 runs for the first wicket, albeit the left-right combination was aided by England’s poor fielding as they dropped three sitters and looked completely out of sorts for the first 10 overs of the innings.

Mandhana looked in sublime touch and raised her fifty in 38 balls while Shafali badgered 7 fours and 2 sixes in her 25-ball 47 before being bowled by Sophie Ecclestone. Jemimah Rodrigues was then dismissed by Lauren Filer, who cranked up the speeds throughout the night. It was her spell that really opened the door for England to re-emerge into the contest.

A simply incredible contest 🙌
We keep the series alive! 💪

Full 3rd IT20 highlights 👇 pic.twitter.com/2tHDTxmclp

— England Cricket (@englandcricket) July 5, 2025

Even after Rodrigues fell, India were on top with Mandhana going great guns, but she eventually lost her rhythm after a few dot balls and mistimed a loft to mid-on to hand Filer her second wicket. The momentum was now shifting. Harmanpreet Kaur and Richa Ghosh occupied the crease and with 20 runs needed off the last two overs, and despite the fall of the set opener, the game still seemed to be in India’s grasp.

Ghosh was, however, dismissed by a wonder grab in the deep from Charlie Dean and England’s bowlers continued to mix their pace up cleverly to keep India’s batters from finding the fence. In the final over, with 12 needed for victory,, Lauren Bell kept things tight and managed to bring the equation down to an arduous 6 required off one ball. She then went on to claim Harmanpreet’s wicket off the final delivery with the Indian captain miscuing the obvious attempt to clear the rope.

Earlier, England’s batting was on song when Dunkley and Wyatt-Hodge thrusted them to 137 without loss in 15.2 overs, with both players reaching half-centuries. Dunkley (75) looked in complete control and Wyatt-Hodge also found form at the right time to craft an ebullient 66. But the moment Deepti Sharma got the better of Dunkley through a soft dismissal, the innings lost every ounce of its stability. Arundhati Reddy, Deepti and Shree Charani staging India’s incredible comeback.

Brief Scores: England 171/9 in 20 overs (Dunkley 75, Wyatt-Hodge 66; Deepti 3-27, Arundhati 3-32) beat India 166/5 in 20 overs (Mandhana 56, Shafali 47; Filer 2-30) by five runs