Harmanpreet and Co eye runs and series in 4th T20I

Manchester: India will hope that skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and hard-hitting opener Shafali Verma return to run-making ways in their quest to clinch the women’s T20I series during the fourth match here on Wednesday.

India are leading 2-1 in the five-match series but England exposed a few chinks in the visitors’ ranks in the third game at the Oval last week during a five-run win.

Shafali looked in prime touch during a 25-ball 47 and Harmanpreet made 17-ball 23 but both batters failed to build on the start, robbing India some momentum.

Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues and Amanjot Kaur have so far shouldered India’s batting, and they would welcome a stronger support from these two experienced campaigners.

On a personal level too, Shafali will be eager to leave a larger footprint as she is yet to score big since her return to India colours after an eight-month hiatus for this series.

Her returns from the other two matches were 20 and 3.

Harmanpreet, who missed the first match with a head injury that she suffered during a side game, replaced Harleen Deol for the second and third match, but made 1 and 23.

Deol was quite impressive in the first match, making a 23-ball 43 at Nottingham, helping Mandhana maintain her rhythm. India have been served well in this series by spinners N Shree Charani (8 wickets), Deepti Sharma (6) and pacer Arundhati Reddy (4), as they have managed to fetch regular breakthroughs.