'We weren't ruthless enough' - England lose T20 series after six-wicket defeat to India at Old Trafford
Published 10/07/2025 at 07:39 GMT+1
India were celebrating and England were left to reflect on what went wrong as the tourists won by six wickets at Old Trafford to secure a memorable T20 series victory. England captain Tammy Beaumont acknowledged her side's shortcomings, pointing to a lack of aggression with the bat as a problem. Sophia Dunkley top scored for the hosts with just 22 runs.
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England captain Tammy Beaumont admitted her side "weren't ruthless enough" as they fell to a six-wicket defeat against India at Old Trafford and lost the T20 series in the process.
The hosts could only set a target of 127 to win, and India's run chase was relatively comfortable.
The tourists hit 127-4 in just 17 overs, after a devastating opening partnership between Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma.
"It was always going to be tough to defend that score, I think we needed at least 150 for our spinners to work with," Beaumont said.
"Defending a low total like that, you've got to get absolutely everything right [in the field] and we couldn't do that.
"We weren't ruthless enough in the bat. Myself included, a very soft dismissal which just isn't good enough at this level.
"Credit to India, they bowled really well and kept the stumps in play, but we didn't adapt quickly enough to push more twos and keep those partnerships going for longer."
England struggled with the bat, failing to gain any real momentum and at one stage going nine overs without a boundary.
Sophia Dunkley top scored with 22 from 19 balls, while for India spin bowlers Radha Yadav and Shree Charani proved key, taking two wickets each.
India were far more aggressive with the bat in response, racing to the 50 mark as Mandhana and Verma immediately established control.
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The visitors could afford to slow the run rate and avoid any unnecessary wickets after the openers were dismissed, and a partnership between captain Harmanpreet Kaur and Jemimah Rodrigues took them closer to the target.
Rodrigues hit the winning runs with three overs to spare and gave India an unassailable 3-1 series lead heading into the final match at Edgbaston on Saturday.
"We want to put on a show at Edgbaston, we haven't put in a complete performance yet," Beaumont added.
"Maybe with some pressure off we can go out there and show what we can do. We are without a few key players, we're a team in transition, but it's on all of us to put our hands up and get this team back on track to make it 3-2."
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