The Indian women’s cricket team failed to click with both the bat and ball, proving to be and match against a dominant England side in a nine-wicket drubbing in the first T20I here. Sent into bat by England skipper Amy Jones, the Indian batters came a cropper against leg-spinner Sarah Glenn and were restricted to just 132/7 in their stipulated 20 overs at Riverside Ground on Saturday. Bowling her full quota off our overs, Glenn finished with excellent figures of 4/23and posed problems for the Indian batters throughout.

With luck on her side, Sophia Dunkley raced to a 44-ball61 to complete the chase in just13 overs as India endured a forgettable outing on the field in wet conditions. All-rounder Deepti Sharma top-scored for India with a 29-ball 24 and the second-best score was 23 by opener Smriti Mandhana.

In between, captain Harmanpreet Kaur blazed away to 20 off 16 balls before being bowled by Glenn. Wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh too got a start but fell to medium pacer Freya Davies after racing to 16 in 12 balls. Skipper Harmanpreet claimed after the game that the conditions were not “100per cent” suitable for play. “We were not able to get the runs we were expecting. I just feel we forcefully played because conditions were not 100 percent fit to play,” she said.

Chasing 133, England were off to a blistering start with both Dunkley and her opening partner Danielle Wyatt (24 off 16 balls) getting quick runs to put up 60 in only 6.2 overs. Dunkely survived a caught-behind as the delivery from Renuka Singh was adjudged a no-ball and then Shafalifluffed a straightforward catch at mid-off when the batter was on 15.

Renuka was the unlucky bowler again. Having got there prieves, Dunkley went on to record her highest score in the format. Brief scores: India Women 132/7 in 20 ovs (Deepti Sharma 29 n.o.; Sarah Glenn 4/23). England Women 134/1 in 13 overs (Sophia Dunkley 61 n.o.). England women won by 9 wkts.

(Written with inputs from PTI)