England Women v India Women 2nd ODI Prediction: Who will win today's ENG-W v IND-W match?
After suffering a heavy defeat in the series opener, India Women take on England Women in the second ODI at Taunton on Wednesday, June 30.
A change in venue from Bristol to Taunton will please India, whose batting order came a cropper in the first ODI en route to an eight-wicket defeat. Captain Mithali Raj was the only batter who managed to spend considerable time in the middle, but even she came under criticism for her middling strike rate.
India's performances in the ODI format have been far from convincing in the recent past. The defeat at Bristol followed a 4-1 drubbing at the hands of South Africa Women earlier this year, with clear holes in certain departments.
England, on the other hand, are flying high in the format. Heather Knight's side proved that their series win over New Zealand was no fluke, putting on a clinical display in both innings to get off to an excellent start in the series.
With a deep batting lineup complemented by a well-rounded bowling attack, England are the favorites heading into the second ODI against India. But with the visitors having a lot to play for, a tight contest is on the cards at the County Ground.
England Women vs India Women 2nd ODI: Who will triumph in Taunton?
India need to sort out their batting woes immediately. Debutant Shafali Verma couldn't make an impact in her first ODI, while her opening partner Smriti Mandhana's book of inconsistency wrote a new chapter.
The middle-order duo of Punam Raut and Mithali Raj have struggled to rotate strike after the powerplay, with both batters finding the fielders within the circle far too often to inject any momentum into the innings. Raj didn't hesitate to point out the same in the post-match press conference, and this is a mistake India have made often in the past and can't afford to repeat.
Harmanpreet Kaur's lean run continued as well, and India's ODI vice-captain desperately needs a big score to silence her critics. Deepti Sharma has been forced to rescue the innings on more than one occasion in the recent past, as have Pooja Vastrakar and Taniya Bhatia.
Not much can be said about India's bowling attack, since they haven't had enough runs on the board to put some pressure on the English batters. But the form of Shikha Pandey in the powerplay and the spinners - Ekta Bisht and Kaur - in the middle overs - won't please Raj and the team management.
England, meanwhile, have no such concerns. The pace trio of Katherine Brunt, Anya Shrubsole and Kate Cross were superb in the first ODI, keeping a tight leash on the Indian batters and picking up a total of five wickets between them. Sophie Ecclestone's fine run continued, with the left-arm spinner providing three breakthroughs on a slowish wicket.
World No. 1 ODI batter Tammy Beaumont came up with yet another telling performance in the series opener to claim the Player of the Match award. She had support from the brilliant Nat Sciver, who remains one of the key cogs in this England side across departments.
Heather Knight and Lauren Winfield-Hill are in good form as well, so they won't be too disturbed by their failures in the previous game. With others like Sophia Dunkley and Amy Jones having made considerable runs in the recent past, the hosts will be confident in their ability to set a total or chase one down.
It remains to be seen how the pitch in Taunton plays. If it relents to allow the batters some respite, India might find an equalizer to compensate for their batting shortcomings. But with that looking slightly unlikely, Mithali Raj's women may be in for another difficult outing in the ODI format.
Prediction: England Women to win the 2nd ODI against India Women