Mandhana, Harmanpreet carry India women to 202/5 at tea against England

London, Jul 10 (PTI) Smriti Mandhana’s aggressive 83 and skipper Harmanpreet Kaur’s solid 58 carried a labouring India to 202 for five against England at tea on the opening day of the one-off Women’s Test here on Friday. However, Harmanpreet fell at the stroke of tea, bowled by a lovely off-break from Mady Villiers, to leave the visitors in a bit of turmoil. Deepti Sharma is batting on 5. India had made 122 for three in the first session, courtesy a breezy 64-run stand for the third wicket between Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues (35, 38 balls). They needed a continuation of that in the middle phase to retain their control, and the tourists did just that through Mandhana and Harmanpreet. The fourth-wicket pair milked 89 runs as India continued to dominate a bit off-colour England bowling unit. Mady Villiers and Lauren Filer gave them a semblance of control but Harmanpreet was equal to the task, driving them through cover region. However, Mandhana fell while approaching a century, edging pacer Issy Wong to stumper Amy Jones. Earlier, England elected to field once they won the toss, and the decision seemed vindicated as they reduced India to 37 for two, dismissing Shafali Verma and Yastika Bhatia inside seven overs. But from that point, Mandhana and Rodrigues lifted India with a spirited alliance. It was double barrel firing as Mandhana and Rodrigues tore into the English attack in their own inimitable styles. Mandhana was severe on Filer, carting her for two fours in a row, before smashing spinner Sophie Ecclestone for a six, a slog-sweep over mid-wicket. Rodrigues sent Ecclestone twice to the ropes in succession as India motored at over six runs an over during their alliance. But Rodrigues’ attempt to reach out to a wide delivery off Wong had disastrous consequences, as the ball disturbed the stumps after taking her bat’s edge. PTI UNG PDS