India cruise past England to clinch T20 series win

Fourth T20, Emirates Old Trafford

England 126-7 (20 overs): Dunkley 22 (19); Radha 2-15, Charani 2-30

India 127-4 (17 overs): Mandhana 32 (31), Verma 31 (19); Wong 1-18

India won by six wickets; lead five-match series 3-1

Scorecard

India clinched an historic T20 series victory over England with a game to spare courtesy of a comfortable six-wicket win at Old Trafford.

After restricting the home side to 126-7 in the fourth T20, the tourists had taken a sizeable chunk out of their target by the end of the powerplay.

Openers Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma relentlessly took the attack to the England bowlers in a stand of 56 and while the run-rate slowed after they departed, India remained in control.

Captain Harmanpreet Kaur and Jemimah Rodrigues soaked up the pressure for a brief spell but, once settled, they kicked for home.

After Harmanpreet was dismissed, it was left to Rodrigues to hit the winning runs in the 17th over and secure India's first women's T20 series win in England.

Earlier, England had stuttered throughout their innings, going nine overs without a boundary from the end of the 10th over, and with a top score of 22 from Sophia Dunkley they were never likely to post a competitive total.

Spin again proved their downfall with two wickets apiece for left-armers Radha Yadav and Shree Charani.

With India holding an unassailable 3-1 lead going into the fifth T20 at Edgbaston on Saturday, Charlotte Edwards' side will already be looking at ways to better combat the spinners in the one-day international series that follows.

England stuck with a winning formula as they opted to bat first, as they did in the third T20, but while that triumph at The Oval was set up by a fantastic opening stand, there was no repeat in Manchester.

Danni Wyatt-Hodge holed out off Shree Charani for her third single-digit score of the series before Dunkley skewed Deepti Sharma to point where Yadav took a fine diving catch.

It was typical of India's efforts in the field and with wickets falling consistently throughout the innings, England found themselves in a perpetual rebuild.

A partnership of 35 between Tammy Beaumont and Alice Capsey was the largest of the innings but Radha broke that and sent the stand-in skipper on her way with a few words and long stare.

That wicket came two balls after what proved to be England's last boundary until the end of the 19th over as India's spinners bowled with impressive discipline and challenged the home batters to take them on.

What followed was a less than ideal combination of very few runs and regular wickets - 5-58 in the last 10 overs, to be exact.

Sophie Ecclestone, on her 100th T20 international appearance, and Issy Wong each hit sixes in the last over to boost England's total but it always looked short.

Having been set a modest total, India could have eased their way through the chase. Instead, they attacked it.

Verma was the chief aggressor, Mandhana a somewhat over-qualified foil, and between them they needed just four overs to overhaul the number of fours England had managed in their entire innings.

England will point to wickets lost and differing match situations, but the contrast between their approach and India's was stark.

By the time Verma was caught in the deep, the tourists could afford to take their time, and even losing Mandhana a couple of overs later did little to ramp up the jeopardy.

The experience and class of Harmanpreet and Rodrigues meant a few quiet overs in the middle were nothing to concern India and so it proved.

England were scrambling, desperate for something, and a poor review for an lbw shout against Harmanpreet showed their muddled thinking.

Meanwhile, India have shown the clarity of thought and focus throughout this series that England are striving for under their new regime.

If finding a way to overhaul Australia is the goal for these sides, only one side currently looks equipped to get close any time soon.