New Delhi, July 21 (IANS) The India women’s cricket team enjoyed a scenic train ride in the UK as they travelled from London to Newcastle for the third and final ODI against England, set to take place on Tuesday at the Riverside Ground in Chester-le-Street.

Ahead of the series decider, the India women’s team enjoyed a relaxed and cheerful train ride to Newcastle, a perfect chance to unwind and create lasting memories before heading home. While some players and support staff were playing game of Ludo, others found quiet comfort in reading books.

This is our last journey (of this tour); after this everyone will go their separate ways. So this (train ride) will be a special memory from the journey,” said Richa Ghosh in a video shared by BCCI on X.

“Every travel day has been a good, memorable day… it was a 35-day tour and we didn’t realise that it’s coming to an end,” added team physio Akansha Satyavanshi.

After clinching a historic T20I series 3-2, the women-in-blue are aiming to seal the ODI series. The visitors began the ODI series in similar fashion with a comfortable four-wicket victory to take a 1-0 series lead over England. But the hosts secured an eight-wicket win at Lord’s to level the three-match ODI series, taking it to the decider.

In the ODI series opener, Deepti Sharma scored an unbeaten 62 and was well supported by Jemimah Rodrigues (48) in the chase of 259. But, the win was set up by Kranti Goud (2-55) and Sneh Rana (2-31) with the ball. Sophia Dunkley (83) and Alice Davidson Richards (53) scored fighting fifties to take the hosts to a respectable score after they were 97 for 4 at one stage.

But, clinical all-round performance from England helped them overcome both India and the rain, as the hosts secured an eight-wicket win at Lord’s to level the three-match ODI series.

In a game that was reduced to 29 overs and began four hours after the scheduled start, England restrcited India to 143. Solid contributions from England’s top three kept the chase on track before rain interrupted play, which resumed with a revised target of 115 in 24 overs, and the hosts chased it down with three overs to spare to level the series 1-all.

–IANS

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