Chelmsford, May 29 (IANS) India’s stand-in captain Smriti Mandhana praised Yastika Bhatia for making a strong comeback and scoring crucial runs for the team after India defeated England by 38 runs in the opening match of the three-game T20I series at the County Ground.

After being put into bat, India recovered from a poor start to post 188/7 before restricting England to 150/8 to take a 1-0 lead in the series. India had slipped to 7/2 in the very first over after Lauren Bell dismissed Mandhana for a golden duck and removed Shafali Verma soon after. However, Yastika and Rodrigues steadied the innings with a superb 126-run partnership for the third wicket.

Playing her first T20I in two years, Yastika scored 54 off 40 balls while Rodrigues struck a brilliant 69 off 40 deliveries to put India in command. Mandhana admitted India did not begin well but praised the way Yastika and Rodrigues changed the course of the match.

“Losing two wickets in the powerplay was not ideal. Credit to Yastika, who came back after eight months. She took the game away. Jemi doing Jemi things. We should have scored 10 more runs though. Fielding second is an advantage,” Mandhana said after the match.

England’s chase was led by Amy Jones’ 67, while Heather Knight chipped in with 21 during a 64-run partnership for the third wicket. But India’s bowlers held their nerve in the second half of the innings.

Debutant pacer Nandni Sharma impressed with figures of 3-34 and played a crucial role in turning the game India’s way by dismissing Jones and Dani Gibson in successive deliveries.

Mandhana praised the bowlers for staying composed under pressure and reserved special praise for Nandni.

“We had a lot of inputs from Jemi and Yastika. All the bowlers were executing their plans. They were calm under pressure. Nandni is a character. She has a lot of fire. She picked up crucial wickets and bowled some crucial overs,” she added.

The win marked India women’s second-biggest victory margin over England in Women’s T20Is after their 97-run triumph at Trent Bridge in 2025.

–IANS

sds/bc