Leeds, June 17 (IANS) India’s bowlers, led by N Sree Charani’s 4-19, delivered a ruthless performance to seal a 95‑run victory over the Netherlands in their 2026 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup group clash at Headingley on Wednesday. With the win, India are now on top of the Group A table, with a net run rate of 3.98, which is 0.10 more than that of Australia.

Half‑centuries from Smriti Mandhana (74) and Shafali Verma (55), followed by late fireworks from Richa Ghosh and Deepti Sharma, carried India to 209/5, their highest in Women’s T20 World Cup history. The bowlers, led by Charani’s four-for and Shafali Verma’s 3-20, ensured it was never threatened as they bowled out the Netherlands for 114 in 17.3 overs.

India will also hope that nothing is too serious with off-spin bowling all-rounder Shreyanka Patil, who was stretchered off the field after twisting her right ankle. Defending a massive 209, India had to bide their time for a breakthrough as Heather Siegers and Phebe Moleknboer hit six boundaries between themselves.

They finally got a breakthrough via Nandni Sharma, who had Heather chipping to extra cover for 21. Deepti Sharma followed up with the dismissal of Phebe, who sliced to mid-off, while Shafali castled Sterre Kalis to leave the Netherlands reeling at 77/3. Babette de Leede offered resistance with 28, but her stumping off Nandni triggered a collapse.

From 96/4, the Netherlands lost four wickets in the space of 12 balls, as Charani was the chief destroyer, with Robine Rijke, Frederique Overdijk, Myrthe van den Raad, and Iris Zwilling all falling to her guile. Shafali returned to add two more scalps as India’s spinners accounted for nine wickets to take the ODI World Cup holders to the top of Group A.

Brief scores:

India 209/5 in 20 overs (Smriti Mandhana 74, Shafali Verma 55; Caroline de Lange 2-32, Heather Siegers 1-31) beat Netherlands 114 all out in 17.3 overs (Babette de Leede 28, Heather Siegers 21; Sree Charani 4-19, Shafali Verma 3-20) by 95 runs

–IANS

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