India vs England, Women’s World Cup 2022 Highlights: India fight to the end but England get back to winning ways

India are in a bit of trouble now. The replays showed that Sophia Dunkley had got her fingers safely beneath the ball and the third umpire stuck with the soft signal. India lose their captain. 

Mithali Raj c Dunkley b Shrubsole 1 (5), India 25/2 after 5.2 overs

Mithali Raj has been caught at cover-point right after getting off the mark. The umpires send it upstairs with a soft-signal of out. 

Mandhana waits for the ball to come to her and pulls it through backward square. She moves to 13 off 12 with that shot, India 23/1. 

Bhatia tries to drive a ball that jags in. It goes between the bat and pad, takes a little inside edge and crashes on to the middle stump. That's 100 ODI wickets for Anya Shrubsole, Bhatia is out for 8 off 11 balls. 

India 18/1 after 3.4 overs

The first boundary of the day comes from the bat of Yastika Bhatia. Tucks it through the gap between mid-on and short mid-wicket and it races away on the practice pitches. 

No boundaries yet for Mandhana or Bhatia as the broadcasters show that Mithali Raj has got her book out for some quiet personal entertainment. 

Brunt bowls the first ball and it crashes on Mandhana's pads. She was still recovering from that blow but her partner was already halfway down the pitch. Mandhana then sprints to the other then and luckily for her, the throw was off target.

Not sure what the delay is about. The players are done with their national anthems and have expressed their support for the Black Lives Matter movement. Katherine Brunt is standing at the start of her run-up. Nasser Hussain says in the commentary box that one of the players was “slightly ill” and they want to cleat that up. Brunt proceeds to go through her warm-ups.  

The combination was first tried against New Zealand and worked very well against the West Indies. India will be hoping for more of the same from Smriti Mandhana and Yastika Bhatia. 

Harmanpreet speaks to the host broadcaster. “Great achievement for me, I always want to do well for me. I think it was great that I have got the three centuries and now I am feeling more greedy. I am looking for more in this World Cup. Sometimes we struggle with injuries and all but for me it is important to bounce back and that's what I have been doing so far. Now I am absolutely fine, niggles are a part of life but for me it is important to come back strong. We did quite well in the last match and the same things we want to repeat.”

The broadcasters aired a package on the England captain and Smriti Mandhana, who has played in the same team as Knight numerous times in England and Australia, was among the players who paid tribute. "Brilliant captain. Got to learn a lot about leadership when I played under her. Very calm and composed under pressure. She is a brilliant cricketer and amazing person," she said. 

Mithali Raj: We would have batted first given it's a dry pitch. We are unchanged. We would like to be consistent and that has benefitted the team. With the sort of experience and exposure of being finalists in the T20 World Cup and with a lot of them playing in the Big Bash League as well, it helps in such situations.

India: Smriti Mandhana, Yastika Bhatia, Mithali Raj(c), Deepti Sharma, Harmanpreet Kaur, Richa Ghosh(w), Sneh Rana, Pooja Vastrakar, Jhulan Goswami, Meghna Singh, Rajeshwari Gayakwad

England: Danielle Wyatt, Tammy Beaumont, Heather Knight(c), Natalie Sciver, Amy Ellen Jones(w), Sophia Dunkley, Katherine Brunt, Sophie Ecclestone, Kate Cross, Charlotte Dean, Anya Shrubsole

Heather Knight has decided to get her team to bowl first after winning the toss. Both teams are unchanged. 

The last match between these two teams in a 50-over World Cup was in the final itself of the 2017 tournament. It was a thrilling match, although Indian fans won't remember it too fondly. At the same time, the match was a culmination of a tournament in which the likes of Harmanpreet Kaur became household names as well. England were restricted to 228/7 and India were actually cruising at 191 for the loss of 3 wickets. Then came a collapse of epic proportions as India folded for just 219 runs and England's Anya Shrubsole took as many as six wickets. 

While Harmanpreet and Mandhana's partnership had helped India score a mammoth 317/8, it did look like the West Indies were well on their way to chasing that target down. They had raced to 100/0 in just over 12 overs but then came the collapse. The West Indies were eventually all out for just 162 in 40.3 overs.  

Smriti Mandhana shared a 184-run stand with Harmanpreet in India's match against the West Indies, herself scoring 123 off 119 balls. She was declared player of the match for her innings but she then decided to share the award with Harmanpreet. 

But India had won the most recent ODI between the two teams. India had beaten England by four wickets in Worcester on July 3 last year, with Deepti Sharma taking three wickets to dismiss the hosts for 219 and Mithali then starring with an unbeaten 75 to lead India to victory. 

The skipper has come under fire from fans for her low strike rate but here is former fast bowler and columnist Snehal Pradhan explaining how she provides India some much needed flexibility. 

Harmanpreet Kaur had last scored a century in the 2017 World Cup and was in all kinds of pressure coming into the 2022 tournament. She has responded by scoring 71 in a losing cause against New Zealand and then scoring 109 in India's previous match against the West Indies. If she is going to continue in this vein of form, India would become one of the teams to beat in the tournament. 

We are into the 15th match of the Women's ODI World Cup and today, India take on the struggling defending champions England in Mount Maunganui. India are fresh off a dominant win over the West Indies while England face the prospect of being knocked out after this match due to their defeat to South Africa in a match that was held at this venue.