India beats England by 38 runs in women’s T20I opener

Debutant Nandni Sharma starred with three wickets, while Jemimah Rodrigues and Yastika Bhatia struck impressive half-centuries as India defeated England by 38 runs in the opening women’s T20I at Chelmsford to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

Chelmsford: Nandni Sharma’s three wickets on international debut followed by half-centuries from Jemimah Rodrigues and Yastika Bhatia, guided India to a 38-run win in the opening game of their three-match T20I series against England here at the County Ground.

The 38-run victory is the India women’s second-biggest win margin against England in T20ls, after 97 runs at Trent Bridge in 2025. Moreover, Nandni became the second Indian pacer to pick a 3-fer on Women’s T20l debut, after Soniya Dabir 3/23 vs ENG-W in Mumbai in 2010.

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After putting in to bat first, India had a troubled start as Lauren Bell took two wickets in the first over, dismissing opener Smriti Mandhana on a golden duck and Shafali Verma on the last ball of the over, to leave the tourists 7/2.

Then Yastika and Rodrigues came to the rescue and shared a century stand (126 off 76) for the third wicket. Playing her first T20I in two years, Yastika struck 54 off 40 balls, her maiden T20I fifty, and Rodrigues slammed a poised 69 off 40.

England then bounced to contain the target as Charlie Dean got rid of Yastika before closing out the over with a sharp return catch to remove Rodrigues and give England hope of containing the target.

Corteen-Coleman claimed her maiden T20I wicket when Issy Wong grabbed a superb catch running from backward point to collect a reverse-sweep from Richa Ghosh. She then took the ball in the next over and bowled Bharti Fulmali for 6 with a slower ball as the visitors were 148 for 6 in the 17th over.

Then a spirited 39-run stand between Deepti Sharma and Arundhati Reddy raised the target before Bell returned to remove Deepti, pulling a short ball straight to midwicket as India posted 188/7 in 19.5 overs.

Chasing 189, England had a shaky start as Kranti Goud struck early to dismiss openers Sophia Dunkley (16) and Alice Capsey (6).

Heather Knight and Amy Jones then steadied the ship with a 64-run stand for the third wicket stand, which Shree Charani broke in the 14th over, dismissing Knight for 21.

An over later, Nandni bagged her maiden international when she removed Jones for 67, which sparked a mini collapse from which England would never recover.

On the next ball, Nandni claimed her second when Dani Gibson holed out the next ball and Shafali again did the work in the outfield. The next over saw Deepti getting Freya Camp before Nandni claimed her third as she castled Wong in 18th over.

Sophie Ecclestone was run in the penultimate over as England were restricted to 150/8 and fell short of the target as India sealed a win in the opener.

Brief scores: India 188/7 (Rodrigues 69, Yastika 54, Bell 3-34) beat England 150/8 (Jones 67, Nandani 3-34) by 38 runs.