In the clash of the titans at the title summit of this World Cup; we witnessed an absolutely breathtaking match. England was coming into the finals on the back of spectacular and unbeaten performances in the group stages, the Super Six stage and the semi-final while India, too, played phenomenally well in the group stages, had a near scare in the Super Six stage while cruising in the semi-finals to make it to the finals.

Congratulations to the Indian team for a special win. Indian women have played excellent cricket. His success inspires many young cricketers. Modi tweeted that he wishes the team all the best for their future endeavours.
This encounter certainly lived up to its billing and what was fascinating was how India held control and leverage throughout the game that ensured they ended up on the other side of the finishing line without much distress. India won the toss and decided to field first which, in hindsight, was such a good call.

England had the worst possible start losing their opener Liberty Heap for a two-ball duck as Titas Sadhu got the first breakthrough for India in the very first over. Niamh Holland played a brisk 10 off 8 coupled with two boundaries but was dismissed and with skipper Grace Scrivens also getting out by Archana Devi in the same over, England was in all sorts of trouble. With Seren Smale and Ryana MacDonanld-Gay attempting to build a partnership, England was still looking shaky and before they could fully get going, Smale was dismissed by Sadhu. The powerplay was disastrous for England and with Charis Pavely getting out LBW by Parshavi Chopra, MacDonald Gay was the next to fall for 19.

The slippery slope only got worse for England as Josie Groves was run out courtesy of a brilliant piece of fielding by Soumya Tiwari that hit the wickets bullseye in a spectacular fashion. With skipper Shafali Verma also getting rid of Hannah Baker for a golden duck thanks to some outstanding keeping by Richa Ghosh, India was already streets ahead of England in the match. Sophia Smale instilled some sense of hope with her 11 but with Sonam Yadav getting the better of her, it meant England ended up 68 all out in 17.1 overs. For India, it was none other than Titas Sadhu who shone with the ball as her figures read 2/6 in four overs as she bowled an unbelievable 20 dot balls and was economical at 1.5 and with Archana Devi and Parshavi Chopra also scalping two wickets besides Mannat Kashyap, Shafali Verma and Sonam Yadav with their one wicket each contributing their bit to India’s instrumental bowling performance to restrict England.