Richa Ghosh (54) equaled the world record for the fastest half-century in 18 balls in women’s T20 International cricket while opener Smriti Mandhana (77) also scored a half-century as India defeated West Indies in the third and deciding T20 International here on Thursday. Defeated by 60 runs and won the three-match series 2-1.
The Indian women’s team has won its first T20 International series on home soil since October 2019. Chasing India’s target of 218 runs, the West Indies team lost wickets at regular intervals and could only score 157 runs for nine wickets. Chinelle Henry was the team’s top scorer by scoring 43 runs in 16 balls with four sixes and three fours while Deandra Dottin (25) and captain Hayley Mathews (22) also played useful innings.
For the host team, spinner Radha Yadav took four wickets for 29 runs. Earlier, India scored 217 runs for four wickets with the innings of Richa and Smriti, which is the team’s best score in this format. Earlier, India’s best score in this format was 201 runs for five wickets which it made against UAE in the Asia Cup this year.
Twenty-one-year-old Richa hit five sixes and three fours in her innings of 21 balls, while Smriti, facing 47 balls, hit 13 fours and one six. Richa equaled the record of fastest half-century held by New Zealand’s Sophie Devine and Australia’s Phoebe Litchfield. Smriti became the most successful batsman of the T20 International format this year by scoring her third consecutive half-century of the series and eighth half-century of the year. He has 763 runs in his name in 23 T20 Internationals this year.
Smriti left Sri Lankan captain Chamari Atapattu behind in the list of highest run scorers. While chasing the target, West Indies lost wickets at regular intervals and the team could not make any big partnership. Dottin and Mathews lost their wickets after a good start. Mathews was caught by spinner Radha Yadav at the hands of Sajeevan Sajna while Dottin was caught by Radha off the ball of Titas Sadhu. Henry gave West Indies hope by showing aggressive attitude. She hit fours and two sixes on consecutive balls of Deepti Sharma in the 14th over.
However, Renuka Singh gave a big blow to West Indies by getting Henry caught by Raghavi Bisht in the next over. West Indies needed 85 runs in the last five overs but the team remained far away from the target. Earlier, after failing to score enough in the second T20, India scored at a rate of almost 10 runs per over from the start in the decider. The team lost the wicket of Uma Chhetri (0) in the first over itself, who became the victim of Chinelle Henry (1 wicket for 14 runs).
Smriti decorated the innings with Jemimah Rodrigues (39 runs in 28 balls, four fours) by making a partnership of 98 runs in 55 balls for the second wicket. Jemima also played some attractive shots after a slow start. Affy Fletcher (1 wicket for 25 runs) broke this partnership by LBWing Jemima. Batting at number four, Raghavi Bisht (31 not out in 22 balls, two fours, one six) left a mark in her second T20 International match.
She hit her first international boundary in the form of a six off Karishma Ramharak and scored runs on both sides of the wicket. However, Smriti once again missed out on a century. He caught Henry on the ball of Deandra Dottin (one wicket for 54 runs) in the 15th over. India then sent aggressive batsman Richa to bat before Deepti Sharma and she played an important role in taking the team’s score beyond 200 runs and entertained more than 40 thousand spectators present at the DY Patil Stadium here.
