India Women vs England Women: Spinners fuel India's comeback in Indore after Heather Knight's century

Exceptional bowling in the back end from Deepti Sharma and Shree Charani helped India to stage an impressie fightback against England in Match 20 of the 2025 Women's ODI World Cup in Indore on Sunday (October 19). At one stage, England were sitting pretty at 211/2 with a score of 300-plus looking a certainty but India's spinners caused an implosion to keep the visitors to 288/8 in the allotted 50 overs.

 

England's innings revolved around a spectacular innings from Heather Knight (109 off 91) who was the only batter who batted at a high tempo in the innings. The genius of Nat Sciver-Brunt (38 off 49) couldn't quite get going at her usual pace although her 113-run stand with Knight had set the base for a big total on a flat batting surface with short ground dimensions in Indore.

 

A solid 73-run opening stand from Amy Jones (56) and Tammy Beaumont was the ideal start for England who were unusually cautious in the first ten overs. However, the run rate steadily increased and once Knight came in at no.3, there was a lot more intent in the innings. When Knight and Sciver-Brunt got set, England were threatening to bat India out of the game.

 

However, Charani started India's fightback with the big scalp of Sciver-Brunt who was dismissed off a sharp catch by Harmanpreet Kaur at cover. Knight, though, kept going and reached her deserved century milestone with some cracking strokeplay. It needed something special to get rid of the ex-captain and a fantastic bit of fielding from Amanjot Kaur produced that for India, courtesy a run out.

 

Once Knight fell, England's innings fell apart completely with India's spin duo choking the run flow and inducing mishits. Only 39 runs came off the 33 balls after Knight's dismissal. Deepti and Charani varied their pace beautifully, and ensured that England's batters didn't get the right lengths to play big shots.

 

Deepti ended with figures of 4-51 and in the process, became only the second Indian woman to take 150 ODI wickets after Jhulan Goswami. Meanwhile, her spin partner Charani was a bit more expensive as she conceded 68 runs but picked up two big scalps in Sciver-Brunt and Sophia Dunkley.

 

Brief scores: England 288/8 (Heather Knight 109, Amy Jones 56; Deepti Sharma 4-51, Shree Charani 2-68)

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