T20: Spinners, Rodrigues guide India to unassailable 3-0 lead

India Women took an unassailable 3-0 lead and clinched the T20 International series against the West Indies Women after they won the third T20 International at the National Stadium in Guyana by seven wickets on Thursday night.

The West Indies Women won the toss and elected to bat first. Once again the top order failed to capitalise on the Powerplay overs as two wickets fell. First to go was Hayley Matthews fell for five, giving Anuja Patil an easy caught and bowl after dispatching her for a beautiful boundary through point.

Shemaine Campbelle’s struggle with bat continued she managed a 12-ball five before she was LBW. Then came Stacy-Ann King’s wicket for seven in the ninth over. The West Indies Women were tottering on 27-3 in 10 overs.

Chedean Nation and Natasha McLean then started a slow but steady rebuild of the West Indies Women’s innings. The Indian Women shared their bowling attack with all spin which pegged the rapid scoring that the West Indies Women like from the pace of the fast bowlers.

The match was pause as a result of two sets of stadium lights shutting off, however no overs were lost. The West Indies batters used this time to regroup and reset their intent and batting plans. Chedean Nation and Natasha McLean returned to the middle but the short break did not provide any change in the batting approach, as Chedean fell shortly after.

It was a progressive slide as the West Indies Women could only muster 59-9 from their 20 overs. Chinelle Henry top scored with 11 off 18 deliveries, while Chedean Nation had 11 from 27. Bowling for India, Radha Yadav had 2-6 from four overs, while Deepti Sharma had 2-12 from her spell.

The Indian Women achieved the target easily despite the loss of three wickets. Hayley Matthews accounted for the unstoppable Shafali Verma getting her stumped for nought.

Hayley then had Smriti Mandhana brilliantly caught by Shakera Selman in the cover region, as the West Indies Women picked up some momentum to defend their small total. Harmanpreet Kaur was also caught by Shakera in the deep off the bowling of Afy Fletcher.

India Women won by finishing on 60-3 in 16.4 overs. Jemimah Rodrigues and Deepti Sharma were not out on 40 and seven respectively. The final two matches will be played at the same venue on November 17 at 13:30h and November 20 at 18:00h. (CWI)