Indore, Oct 19 (IANS) In her 300th international game, Heather Knight’s fluent 109 anchored England’s innings, but Deepti Sharma’s incisive four-wicket haul ensured India clawed back in the death overs to restrict the visitors to 288/8 in their crucial 2025 Women’s ODI World Cup clash at the Holkar Stadium on Sunday.

Amy Jones had laid the foundation with a brisk 56 at the top, but it was Heather’s innings that gave England the momentum. Her fourth ODI century, laced with 15 fours and a six, had a blend of precision and aggression.

Her variety of sweep shots, especially toward the shorter square boundary, were a tactical masterstroke – amassing 36 runs off that and left India’s spinners scrambling for answers. Her strike rate of 257.14 while sweeping was a testament to her control and clarity of purpose.

She also shared a 113-run stand with Nat Sciver-Brunt, which meant England were eyeing a total well beyond 300, as India were firmly pushed on the backfoot. But Heather’s run-out with five overs remaining triggered a collapse, as England lost their last five wickets for 42 runs.

For India, Deepti Sharma emerged as the standout bowler, claiming 4-51 and leading a disciplined death-overs effort that helped the hosts claw back and put themselves in a chase full of intrigue on a dry red-soil pitch.

Electing to bat first, Renuka Singh Thakur produced a big inswinger and went for an appeal for a caught-behind dismissal off Tammy Beaumont. But replays showed the pacer overstepped, and Tammy made great use of the free hit by hammering a boundary.

With Kranti Gaud’s lengths being majorly all over the place, Amy collected three quick boundaries via drive, flick and slice, even as Tammy clipped off her for another boundary. Tammy and Amy also ran well between the wickets to keep the scoreboard ticking and ensure England escaped the power-play unscathed with 44/0.

There was no stopping England as Amy picked two boundaries on the backfoot off N Shree Charani, even as India missed an lbw review chance of Tammy off Kranti. But that missed lbw didn’t cost much when Deepti castled Tammy with a fuller ball and got her 150th ODI wicket to break the 73-run opening stand.

Amy marched forward to bring up her first World Cup half-century by swiping Renuka over the long-on boundary for four. But Amy was dismissed when she didn’t get to the pitch of the ball and lofted straight to short mid-on off Deepti. Though the Indian bowlers did put the squeeze on for a wee bit, Heather and Nat, who hit a four each off Deepti and Amanjot Kaur, took their time before opening up.

After that, England had a nice shift in the tempo, with Heather nailing the sweep and slog-sweep through the shorter side of the ground with great precision off Charani and Sneh Rana. Heather then brought up her half-century in 54 balls by reverse-sweeping Sneh for a boundary.

After heaving Amanjot for a boundary, Heather continued to use sweep and reverse sweep effectively to take boundaries off Sneh, Charani and Deepti, as England put India under serious pressure. That took its toll when India lost a review while trying to review a decision off Nat, despite knowing that the ball from Deepti was going down leg.

It also meant India clocked their eighth unsuccessful review in the tournament, the most for any side so far. The hosts finally had some respite when Nat went for a drive off Charani through the extra-cover region, but picked out a leaping Harmanpreet to perfection.

Heather had a life on 91 when Deepti dropped her catch at short backward square leg off Renuka, and capitalised on it by piercing Renuka through the off-side for four. Though she was beaten in flight by Charani, Heather’s outside edge evaded all to bring up her century off 86 balls, before rocking back to cut the spinner for another boundary.

Eventually, Heather was run out in the 45th over when she didn’t ground the bat on time and fell short of the crease by a direct hit from Amanjot. From there, India began clawing back – Charani began England’s meltdown when she had Sophia Dunkley holing out to long-off.

Deepti had Alice Capsey reverse-sweeping to point off and Emma Lamb lofting to long-on’s hands. Despite Sophie Ecclestone being run out in the final over, England managed to breach the 280-run mark and ask India’s batting line-up, minus Jemimah Rodrigues, to get into the chase.

Brief Scores: England 288/8 in 50 overs (Heather Knight 109, Amy Jones 56; Deepti Sharma 4-51, Shree Charani 2-68) against India.

–IANS

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