England Women were handed a 97-run thumping by India Women in the first T20I of the five-match series at Trent Bridge. It was a resounding win attained by the Smriti Mandhana-led outfit, who were without full-time skipper, Harmanpreet Kaur, who was rested as a precautionary measure following a head injury sustained during the warm-up match against ECB Select XI.
It wasn’t just any sort of defeat for Nat Sciver-Brunt and her girls. The loss by 97 runs was their heaviest in T20Is by runs, surpassing the 93-run defeat against Australia Women at Chelmsford in July 2019 in the three-match T20I series.
Biggest defeat margins for ENG-W in T20Is (by runs):
| Opposition | Margin of Defeat | Venue | Year |
| IND-W | 97 runs | Trent Bridge | 2025 |
| AUS-W | 93 runs | Chelmsford | 2019 |
| AUS-W | 72 runs | Adelaide | 2025 |
| AUS-W | 57 runs (batted 16 overs) | Sydney | 2025 |
| AUS-W | 57 runs (batted 20 overs) | Mumbai (Brabourne) | 2018 |
Being sent in to bat first, India posted 210/5 on the board at the end of 20 overs. Smriti brought up her maiden T20I ton in some style, amassing a stellar 112 off 62 deliveries. The knock comprised 15 fours and three sixes. This knock also made the left-handed opener the first India Women’s cricketer to score centuries across all international formats.
Harleen Deol (43 off 23) was the second-highest run-scorer for the team after Smriti. Together, the duo put on 94 runs in 45 balls for the second wicket. Lauren Bell (3/27) impressed with the ball. Other than her, no other bowler could really stem the flow of runs. Linsey Smith (0/41 in three overs) and Sophie Ecclestone (1/43 in three overs) had a rare off day.
England lost wickets in regular spaces of time during their run-chase. Despite scoring 58 at the end of the powerplay, they had already lost three wickets. Sciver-Brunt ended up waging a lone war with 66 off 42 balls. However, she received no support whatsoever from the other end.
Debutant N Shree Charani starred with impressive figures of 4/12 in 3.5 overs. Deepti Sharma (2/32 in three overs) and Radha Yadav (2/15 in two overs) complimented her quite well. Amanjot Kaur (1/22 in three overs) and Arundhati Reddy (1/18 in two overs) chipped in with a wicket apiece.
Get every cricket updates! Follow Us:
Doonited Affiliated: Syndicate News Hunt
This report has been published as part of an auto-generated syndicated wire feed. Except for the headline, the content has not been modified or edited by Doonited
.jpeg "GSL 2025: Dubai Capitals confirm squad for second edition | CricTracker")
