India women’s team slumped to their first loss in the T20 World 2023 as they bottled up a chance to maintain their cent per cent record in the Group stage match against England on Saturday.

Chasing a target of 152 runs, Team India vice-captain Smriti Mandhana (52) notched up a brilliant half-century but failed to find support from the other end as — Shafali Verma (8) and captain Harmanpreet Kaur (4) — fell cheaply. Jemmimah Rodrigues (13) too couldn’t add much to the team tally. Mandhana was the top-scorer of the team. Her 41-ball innings included seven boundaries and one six.

However, wicketkeeper-batter Richa Ghosh (47 not out) played a resilient knock but it was not enough to take her side over the line. Her unbeaten knock of 34 deliveries was laced with four boundaries and two hits over the fence while Deepti Sharma was run out for 7 and Pooja Vastrakar (2 not out) remained unbeaten on the other end.

For England, leg-spinner Sarah Glenn was the pick of the bowlers, returning figures of 2/27.

Earlier, Nat Sciver Brunt (50) and Amy Jones (40) played crucial knocks to help England post a chaseable total of 151/7 at St George’s Park, Gqeberha. India’s Renuka Sigh, who addressed the press conference after the match, picked up a five-wicket haul but her effort went in-vain.

“I didn’t that these are the [bowling figures in a T20 World Cup, male or female]. Because I wasn’t thinking about five wickets. I was thinking about hitting the right areas,” Singh said.

“I had discussed with Troy earlier that I have not been able to take wickets in the power play. I had practiced and was able to execute this today. We had discussed that batters are reading beforehand, that I am bowling inswing. Thereby we practiced on straight ones, outswingers, and slower ones,” she added.

India Women vs England Women, T20 World Cup 2023: How Twitter reacted

151 was definitely chaseable in today’s batting conditions. #ENGvIND #T20WorldCup.

— Anjum Chopra (@chopraanjum) February 18, 2023

Always said, Shafali is taking her place in the team for granted. Even in U19 WC, she did not score much, it was the youngsters who got us the cup. Our bowling department, except a couple of them, looks terrible

— Vikas Alva (@Vikas_Alva) February 18, 2023

Agreed. If india wants to become powerhouse in women’s cricket, need to be excellent at Running between wickets/cricketing intelligence/ sealing pressure situations/new skipper/identifying the ball strikers from women’s cricket pool or from #WPL/getting Kiran navgire in the team

— Akhil (@iAmAkhilK2) February 18, 2023

https://twitter.com/adityanarayanh/status/1626988042644000768?s=20

We lose by 1⃣1⃣ runs 🙁

But #TeamIndia will bounce back stronger 👊#T20WorldCup #ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/BH2XKlshWo

— Delhi Capitals (@DelhiCapitals) February 18, 2023

#INDvAUS viewership on Hotstar when Kohli was playing today was 1.6 million#ENGvIND Women’s T20 World Cup game viewership right now with Richa Ghosh chasing 34 in 12 balls is 2.1 million.

Massive. A revolutionary year in Women’s Cricket indeed 🤞

— Amey Deshpande (@SportsZealot07) February 18, 2023

A solid fight from #TeamIndia but it was England who won the match! #ENGvIND

India will look to bounce back in their next #T20WorldCup game against Ireland. 👍 👍

Scorecard 👉 https://t.co/EvGQ5Eom80 pic.twitter.com/yUXQEco4Zq

— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) February 18, 2023

MAKE THAT 3 WINS FROM 3, COME ONN 😍#ENGvsIND #T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/KNuGP8DaQN

— England's Barmy Army 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🎺 (@TheBarmyArmy) February 18, 2023

A spell to remember for Renuka Singh Thakur – 5/15 in 4 overs against England in the T20 World Cup. She was on fire, an exhibition of bowling in Powerplay and at the final over.

Well bowled, Renuka! pic.twitter.com/cUHlnE25bf

— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) February 18, 2023