England vs India: Bowlers, fielders set up historic series win for Harmanpreet Kaur’s side as visitors prevail in 4th T20I

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England vs India: The ground-fielding was sharp throughout, and that must have pleased captain Harmanpreet the most during the series win in Manchester. (AP)

Having opted to bat first, England never really found any momentum at Old Trafford in Manchester. The conditions were helping the slower bowlers, and India have plenty of those in their arsenal, and used them to good effect. After reaching 21/0 in 3 overs, England’s Run Rate (7.0) was the highest it would be in their entire innings. Their batters just managed 8 fours in 20 overs (to go along with three sixes, two of which came in the last over of the innings that went for 16 runs) and just crossed the run-a-ball 120-run mark with the final delivery of the innings.

In contrast, with a subpar target of 127, India broke the chase down in the powerplay, hitting 9 fours in the first four overs of their response, thanks to Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana’s solid start. A few minor hiccups in the middle overs didn’t derail their chase this time as Harmanpreet Kaur and Co romped up with 3 overs and 6 wickets to spare to win the fourth T20I and seal the five-match series 3-1. It marks the first time India have won a bilateral T20I series with multiple matches on English soil.

Only one among the six bowlers India used on the day went at above 8 runs per over, and that is the usually economical Sneh Rana, who bowled just one over for 12 runs. The rest of the unit clicked in unison, with Sree Charani making a fine mini comeback in the match after conceding 11 in the third over of the England innings, finishing with 2/30 in her four overs. Radha Yadav, named player of the match eventually, had a memorable outing with 2/15 in her four overs at an economy rate of 3.75. Deepti Sharma’s figures were only dented by the aforementioned costly 20th over that went for 16. Pacers Amanjot Kaur and Arundhati Reddy used their change-up options well too in what was a complete bowling performance by India that barely allowed England’s batters to gain momentum, constantly keeping the stumps in play.

Delight in the air 🥳#TeamIndia's joyous moments after completing a 6 wicket win over England and sealing the #ENGvIND T20I series 🤝 pic.twitter.com/KpKycyuB3H

— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) July 10, 2025

But the highlight of the first half was India’s fielding. Arundhati started things off with a nice high catch to dismiss Danni Wyatt-Hodge that set the tone (she took three catches in all) and then the electric Radha took a sharp catch at point to send back the dangerous Sophia Dunkley. The ground-fielding was sharp throughout, and that must have pleased Harmanpreet the most, an area the Indian team has been found wanting in, but have shown considerable improvement since the recent Tri Series in Colombo.

England managed to crawl to 126/7, and the Indian openers quickly made it look even more under-par than it did at the halfway stage. Shafali showed why she can be such an X-Factor at the top of the order, especially in the shortest format. The rapid Lauren Filer has troubled Shafali this series, but the opener took the initiative early this time, hitting the pacer for three fours in the 2nd over. Smriti might have finished her knock at an underwhelming 32 off 31 but she too hit the boundaries in the powerplay, including the shot of the match: a yorker from Lauren Bell just outside offstump that she squeezed through the gap between short third and point with the deftest of touches.

When India lost Shafali and Smriti, the chase was well under control, with less than run-a-ball required, so Harmanpreet and Jemimah Rodrigues could take their time and avoid a collapse like at The Oval. The Indian captain did struggle to make contact with the ball for a large chunk of her stay in the middle, but as the equation just got tight, she unleashed a couple of big hits to release the pressure. She got out just before crossing the finish line but Rodrigues was there to finish the job off.