India to fight for pride against England

WORCESTER: The Indian women's team will look to fight for pride on Saturday in the third and final ODI against England, who have already taken an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series.

India lost by eight wickets in the first game, which turned out to be a one-sided affair. Mithali Raj's team though put up a fight while defending 221 in the second match but the total proved too little.

India have struggled with the bat as well as with the ball in the two matches. Apart from Mithali, who scored half-centuries in both the matches, no other batter has clicked. While Shafali Verma made a notable contribution in the second ODI after failing in the first, her debut ODI, the other opener Smriti Mandhana failed to click in both matches. The biggest concern for Indian women is the form of Harmanpreet Kaur. The right-handed batter has aggregated 20 in two innings and her failure is one of the reasons why the Indians haven't gone on to post a big score.

The Indian women bowlers too have struggled to make regular breakthroughs. While they failed to make regular inroads in the first ODI, they were successful in sending back half the England side early but got stuck into newcomer Sophia Dunkley. IANS

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