India will need bigger contributions from its leadership duo of Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana and its middle order as it seeks to clinch the three-match T20I in the deciding fixture at Taunton on Tuesday.

The series stands locked at 1-1, with each fixture exposing different issues with the Indian batting order. In the first T20I, openers Smriti and Shafali Verma were dismissed in the very first over. But Jemimah Rodrigues and Yastika Bhatia, who is back in the T20I setup after a recurring injury issues, did well to stabilise the Indian innings and help post a competitive score.

In the second fixure, however, India squandered a positive start with Harmanpreet and Yastika struggling to break free from a mid innings rut.

Harmanpreet, who did not feature in the opening game, returned to her usual no.4 slot in the 2nd T20I, which meant Yastika was brought up to No.3 in place of Jemimah who was pushed to no.5. The disruption didn’t work as Jemimah, slotted into a finishing role, strayed from her natural game and holed out trying to send the ball to the fence.

With the series locked at 1-1, a victory in the decider will not just be another overseas bilateral win but a shot in the arm for either team before the start of the Women’s T20 World Cup later this month.

India was ahead of England in the chase at the end of the PowerPlay (49/1 against England’s 35/1) with the required rate of 8.57. That soon climbed to 9.10 at the halfway mark and to 12.00 by the 14th, prompting India to retire out a struggling Yastika who never really got going. Harmanpreet’s own scoring rate — she has a tendency to take time to settle before exploding — wasn’t great as the pair piled on the dots.

One would have thought Richa Ghosh might be the candidate to send in place of Yastika to infuse some urgency into the chase. But it was Jemimah who was sent ahead of her. Richa was dismissed for another single digit score a few deliveries later.

Harmanpreet’s return and Yastika’s retention meant Bharti Fulmali had to warm the bench, but given India’s finishing troubles, the side might want to keep her in the mix. That said, all of this only points to a highly unsettled batting order, worrying signs with a World Cup around the corner.

For England, too, batting has been a concern, as Amy Jones’ 67 is the only half-century across two games while most of the other seasoned batters got starts but couldn’t carry on with the momentum for sustained periods of time.

Published on Jun 01, 2026