1st WODI: Deepti powers India to four-wicket victory over England

Southampton: Deepti Sharma showed enormous composure with an unbeaten half century that powered India to a comfortable four-wicket victory in the opening women's ODI against England here. The dress rehearsals for India's 50-over World Cup started in earnest as a target of 259 was chased with 10 balls to spare, courtesy Deepti's unbeaten 62 off 64 balls with three boundaries and a six. Her 90-run fifth wicket stand in 14.2 overs with Jemimah Rodrigues (48 off 54 balls) proved to be the match-winning one. All-rounder Amanjot Kaur (20 off 14 balls) provided the finishing touches with some meaty blows as the target was achieved with minimum fuss despite India being reduced to 124 for 4 after the fall of skipper Harmanpreet Kaur's (17) wicket. Deepti and Rodrigues took over and farmed the strike well as they kept the scoreboard ticking and also hit the occasional boundaries whenever loose deliveries were provided. Deepti, whose slog over batting has always come in for a lot of flak, was brilliant in planning the chase. The shot of the match certainly was her one-handed six off Lauren Bell over deep mid-wicket. She effortlessly picked a length ball from outside the off-stump and dispatched it over deep mid-wicket with her bottom hand coming off the handle.

Indian captain Harmanpreet was very happy with Deepti's performance and also praised Rodrigues, who missed out on a half-century by two runs. "Happy with the way we bowled. Really happy with how we batted, especially Deepti. Her innings was key. We thought we gave away extra 20-30 runs, it was a good wicket to bat on. Fielding is something we are working on, we missed two chances today. We will try to do better. Jemi is calm on the field and credit goes to Deepti for the way she batted." Earlier, young seamer Kranti Goud impressed with two wickets upfront before Sophia Dunkley's unbeaten 92-ball 83 lifted England to a respectable 258 for six here on Wednesday. Besides Goud (2/55 in 9 overs), off-spinner Sneh Rana (2/31 in 10 overs) too picked up two wickets during a fine display after England opted to bat. Alice Davidson Richards contributed 53 in 73 balls during a 106-run partnership for the fifth wicket with Dunkley, which formed the nucleus of the England innings after they lost four wickets for 97 runs. Dunkley struck nine fours during her stay in the middle.