WATCH: Deepti Sharma Inflicts A Run Out At The Non-Striker's End; India Historically Clean Sweep England
ENGW vs INDW: So much talk about the 'spirit of the game' and other related things, and yet the laws are the laws. India Women's team came out into the final ODI against England with two historical reasons - legendary Jhulan Goswami's last international match and a possible first clean sweep against England. England looked at the brink of avoiding this, but Indian all-rounder Deepti Sharma inflicted a brilliant runout to complete a historic win.
Defending a low target of 170, Indian bowlers gave themselves a real chance as they shimmied England down to 118/9. However, England's top scorer Charlotte Dean and & Freya Davies held the crease as they etched a partnership of 35 runs. The English pair looked set to avoid a clean sweep and take the hosts to a victory.
In the 43rd over, however, Indian ace all-rounder Deepti Sharma showed a smart bit of work. On the third delivery, as she was about to bowl, she saw Charlotte Dean leaving the crease at the non-striker's end while trying to back up for a run. Charlotte was batting at 47* at the time and looked to be taking the game away from India's grasp.
Deepti didn't complete the delivery as she walked back and dislodged the stumps and appealed. As Nasser Hussain said 'no' on commentary and the home crowd booed, the umpire referred it to the third umpire, who decided that it was out. It is noteworthy that the MCC laws were changed, where 'Mankad' was abolished and instead it was decided that this would now be a legal and fair run out. Deepti didn't shy away and did what she had to do to win the game within the laws!
Earlier, India were bowled out for 169/10 in 45.4 overs. Deepti was the top scorer with the bat as she scored 68 runs, while Smriti Mandhana contributed 50 runs at the top. Pooja Vastrakar scored impactful 22 runs while none of the other batters managed to cross the 20-run mark. For England, Kate Cross picked up 4 wickets, while Freya Kemp and Sophie Ecclestone grabbed 2 wickets each. F Davies and Charlotte Dean also picked one wicket each.
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In reply, England were restricted to 153 in 43.3 overs. Charlotte remained the top scorer with 47 runs while Renuka Singh, grabbed 4 wickets including the top three batters to shatter the English batting. Jhulan Goswami returned impressive figures of 2/30 with 3 maidens in her 10 overs, picking a wicket in the last over of her international match as well. With this 16-run win, India completed their first clean sweep against England with 3-0 in the ODI series. This match was played at Lord's, London.