Deepti Sharma’s 5/7 headlines spin-dominant day

On a day when 19 wickets fell in total, India managed to get into the driver’s seat on the back of Deepti Sharma’s incredible spell that yielded 5/7, and earned them a 292-run first innings lead.

With spin dominating the day’s play completely, the tone was set early in the day when Sophie Ecclestone accounted for two of the last three wickets India had. Overnight on 60, Sharma herself became Lauren Bell’s third victim being caught at slip.

Having dismissed India for 428, England harboured hopes of continuing the fight with the bat as well but to little avail. India judged early in he innings that spin was going to play a big part and introduced it early.

But before that, they had the brilliance of Renuka Singh beating Sophia Dunkley’s defence to give them an early breakthrough while Pooja Vastrakar chipped in with the ball and on the field to account for Heather Knight and Tammy Beaumont. England’s fight came through Nat Sciver-Brunt who launched a bit of a counterattack, being free-flowing in her strokeplay.

Briefly, she had Danielle Wyatt employing a similar ploy for company and the duo threatened to launch a fightback in the middle. However, India kept making bowling changes in a bid to keep the batters guessing. The move worked with the introduction of Deepti Sharma, just as it had with Vastrakar, with the spinner striking in her first over.

Wyatt was caught at short-leg – a position that remained busy right through the day – as the offspinners found enough purchase and triggered a dramatic collapse. Amy Jones was then caught off a deflection from short leg while the sharp turn, and sometimes lack of bounce, accounted for others who could not counter the lines and lengths. Alongside Sneh Rana, Sharma ripped through the lower order picking up eye-popping figures of 5/7 as England lost their last seven wickets for just 28 runs.

India decided not to enforce the follow-on despite the big lead and instead came out with an attacking intent with the bat. Smriti Mandhana lofted Ecclestone for a six off the bowler’s first ball in the second innings signaling the dominant frame of mind the hosts were in. Along with Shafali, who opened up after a watchful start, Mandhana put on a 61-run opening stand before England’s spinners found their feet.

Mandhana was out fending to short leg off Ecclestone as some extra bounce came into play, Shafali holed out to long on attempting a big hit, Yastika Bhatia was forced to fend to short leg as was Jemimah Rodrigues. Offspinner Charlie Dean accounted for Deepti Sharma who missed a sweep and Sneh Rana bowled first ball to end the day with a four-wicket haul.

In the absence of Shubha Satheesh, who was nursing a hairline fracture on her finger, India’s batting was held up by Harmanpreet Kaur’s unbeaten 44 and a 53-run stand with Vastrakar that stretched India’s overall lead to a massive 478 by Stumps on day two.

Brief scores:
India 428 (Shubha Satheesh 69, Jemima Rodrigues 68, Yastika Bhatia 66, Deepti Sharma 67; Lauren Bell 3-67, Sophie Eccleston 3-91) & 186/6 (Harmanpreet Kaur 44*; Charlie Dean 4-68) lead  England 136 all out (Nat Sciver-Brunt 59, Deepti Sharma 5-7) by 478 runs