(Cricket news) England won in hindsight what was a crucial toss to put India into bat first. Both the sides retained the same XI from their last game. India batting first could only manage 134 runs in 36.2 overs before being bowled out. Smriti Mandhana and Richa Ghosh were the only batters to cross the 30 run mark while Jhulan Goswami contributed 20 crucial runs lower down the order.

India's changes in the batting order are not working as Mithali Raj once again failed to get going while Deepti Sharma one of the stars of the last World Cup is still struggling as she was run out on a duck. India's decision to drop Yastika Bhatia in order to change the combination only to bring her back to replace Shafali Verma may be playing on the minds of the two youngsters as none of them have a guaranteed spot. England bowled extremely well with full lengths which worked in their favour. The fielding was also on point as they took a good catch and inflicted two run outs with direct hits. The Indian batters somehow looked casual and sloppy once again.

Defending 135 runs, India got off to a great start as both the new ball bowlers Goswami and Meghna Singh picked up a wicket as England were 4-2 in 3 overs. After that the women in blue started missing their lines, bowling too short at times. They did manage to get a few wickets towards the end to take the game deep but all that effort went in vain. In hindsight the toss turned out to be important and both sets of batters struggled but England not having any pressure due to the small target worked for them.

India are still 3rd on the table thanks to their good net run rate. Their next game is against the 6 time champions and table toppers Australia. At this moment the race for the Semi final spots is wide open with Australia likely to be at the top having won all their games so far. Every other country is still in the race as it promises to go right down to the wire.

Also read: Takeaways from India's All-round performance in the Sri Lanka Test series