Harmanpreet Kaur's Century Powers India To Series Win Against England
The Indian women's skipper, Harmanpreet Kaur, silenced trolls with her iconic performance as she smashed an incredible century against England in the third and final ODI at the Riverside Ground. She scored 102 runs off 84 balls, smashing 14 fours. With the help of this knock, she made the second-fastest century by an Indian woman in ODIs, entering the three-figure mark with the help of 82 balls. Before her, the record for the fastest century for India was made by Smriti Mandhana in just 70 balls against Ireland this year only.
Indian women won the toss and elected to bat first, inviting England Women to bowl first in the final match of the series. Pratika Rawal (26) and Smriti Mandhana (45) gave a good start to the team. The Indian captain Harmanpreet started slowly but was quite clear in her aim of what she had to do, and after that she started hitting the boundaries for fun. Before this game, many questions were raised about her poor form, especially in the previous match at the Lord's Cricket Ground, which unfortunately India lost.
This was Harmapreet Kaur's first century in one year, and last she scored a ton in 2024 against South Africa. This was her seventh ODI hundred for India.
However, she lost her wicket in the last second (49th) over, dismissed by Linsey Smith. Her knock played a crucial role in India reaching the score of 318/5 in fifty overs. Along with captain Smriti Mandhana (45) and Harleen Deol (45), Jemimah Rodrigues played an incredible knock. India also made the third-highest total against England in women's ODI.
The shocking thing came when the side smashed 120 runs in the last ten overs.
Richa Ghosh scored 38 runs off 18 balls, smashing three fours and two sixes. Smriti Mandhana and Partika Rawal put up a score of 64 runs for the opening wicket, but the partnership was broken by Charlie Dean.
On the other side, England players Lauren Bell, Lauren Filer, Charlie Dean, Sophie Ecclestone, and Linsey Smith took one wicket each. The three-match ODI series is now won by Indian women by 2-1.