Antigua: Solid opening stand by batter Smriti Mandhan and Jemimah Rodrigues helped India women record a win over host West Indies by six wickets. Team India sealed the three match series 2-1.
On Wednesday evening, India rode on a brilliant 141-run opening stand between Mandhana (74) and Rodrigues (69) to chase down the 195-run target with 47 balls to spare at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium.
Earlier, West Indies women had a poor start after electing to bat as the opening batters found it difficult to get the scoring started. No runs were scored in the first two overs as Jhulan Goswami and Shikha Pandey had Hayley Matthews and Natasha McLean pegged back with pace.
Natasha was the first to go, trying to play across the line and the ball popped up from the edge of the bat for an easy catch. Hayley playing in her first game this series, eventually took a liking to the pace from Goswami and Pandey, belting them for three fours and a six on her way to 26. However, her got run-out slowed down the pace of the Windies inning and they were reduced to 50/4 inside 20 overs.
Chedean Nation's stay in the middle did not last long as she fell for 6. Kyshona Knight and skipper Stafanie Taylor looked set to rebuild the shaking innings, as they converted their chances for quick singles. After building a steady partnership of 34 runs, Kyshona got out after scoring 16 runs.