India Women claim the series opener comfortably in Chelmsford

India put on a clinical show with both bat and ball to defeat England in Chelmsford and take an early lead in the T20I series. India overcame a poor start to post a commanding 188/7 on the board before restricting England to just 150/8 in the run chase to prevail easily by 38 runs.

India amassed 73/2 in the Powerplay largely thanks to an expensive over from Issy Wong. The partnership between Yastika Bhatia and Jemimah Rodrigues transcended the three-figure mark, eventually broken in the 14th over when India lost both set batters in the space of three deliveries.

From thereon, England retaliated with a few more wickets to slow India down before a cute little cameo from Deepti Sharma helped them to a position of strength. England made only 43 in the Powerplay, leaving themselves with a fair bit of catching up to do. The chase wilted away completely once Nandni Sharma struck off successive deliveries including the key wicket of Amy Jones. England lost steam at the death and added just 30 runs from their final five overs handing India a comfortable win.

Brief scores: India 188/7 in 20 overs (Jemimah Rodrigues 69, Yastika Bhatia 54; Lauren Bell 3-34) beat England 150/8 in 20 overs (Amy Jones 67; Nandni Sharma 3-34, Kranti Gaud 2-24) by 38 runs