India 148 for 4 (Verma 48, Kaur 31) beat England 140 for 8 (Beaumont 59, Knight 30, Poonam 2-17, Sharma 1-18) by eight runs.
A flurry of late wickets put England out of a position of strength for a crushing eight-run defeat at the hands of India in their second T20I at Hove.
England lost six wickets for 31 runs in 5.4 overs, including three run outs, as India made an impressive comeback in the final match of their multi-format series. In doing so, India kept alive their hopes of finishing on points level after the final match in Chelmsford on Thursday, which deserves two points for a win. India now have six points of eight of England.
Tammy Beaumont and Heather Knight looked set to see "that second match" see their side in good time and while doing so with the promise of one or two guilt-free beers if they win both the T20I leg and the can achieve. Multi format series. But when they fell on consecutive balls - Knight was somewhat controversially run out - it triggered a slump that he hoped was not an omen for their football-playing counterparts against Italy just two hours away. Deepti Sharma had a hand in both dismissals - actually an arm and a leg - while Poonam Yadav made sure there would be no late hero from Amy Jones or Katherine Brunt.
A highlight for India was Shafali Verma's knock of 48 which came in the opening partnership of 70 runs off 53 balls with Smriti Mandhana. This was India's first 50-plus opening stand in T20Is in England, their highest being 27 in the last 12 matches.
Both the openers showed excellent intentions and it was Mandhana who played the supporting role of Verma, the breathtakingly talented youngster hitting 48 off 38 balls with eight fours and a six as Mandhana faced 16 for 20. The pair sure looked menacing. Before Maddie Villiers played his part in getting both out.
Katherine Brunt conceded 11 runs in the second over of the match with Mandhana and Verma finding a boundary through the third man, but worse was to come for the England seam-bowling legend. In his next over, Brunt smashed 21 runs, Verma smashed him for five consecutive boundaries, punched through midwicket, slammed down the ground and tactfully advanced through backward point before thrashing almost identically at mid-on.
Nat Sciver could have dismissed Verma in two balls after this attack had he caught an extremely difficult return catch, the speed at which the ball was smashed back, allowing the miss to be forgiven. Certainly a more genuine opportunity was given by Sophie Ecclestone from her bowling a short time later, with Ecclestone putting herself in a good position to take the catch before the ball came loose from her fist. As it turned out, Verma managed to add just nine more runs.
Villiers was crucial in removing Mandhana and Verma swiftly, Freya Davis impressing with an early breakthrough when Mandhana tries to send a fuller ball over the top, only to sky it towards covers and Villiers, mid-off. Rounds were going on. As he pulled that catch and offspinner Villiers was pushed into the attack when he tempted Verma to hit another big shot down the leg side and Sciver ran to his right from long-on. Villiers conceded only one run in his first over for nine wickets in two overs.
Left-arm spinner Ecclestone also played his part, conceding 11 runs in his first over, producing a maiden in the powerplay and then conceding just 11 runs to retain his last two overs - the 17th and 20th innings . A lid on India's total.
Verma's partner Richa Ghosh, 17, treated Sciver with some disdain, dragging him to the leg side for six. Ghosh was dropped off the next ball, hit at cover point, where Sofia Dunkley couldn't wrap her hands around him. But Sciver had the last laugh when he took a swift return catch to dismiss Ghosh for 8. Or did he?
The dismissal of Danny Wyatt, straightening Arundhati Reddy off Harmanpreet Kaur at mid-off on the 12th ball of the innings, brought Sciver to the middle with fresh memories of 55 off 27 balls for England's 18 on the DLS method Sealed the victory of the run. first match. But when Shikha Pandey's wide to Beaumont was jolted by Ghosh, the young wicketkeeper held his head. As the England batsmen tried to take a single, Ghosh gathered, turned and in one fluid motion slammed down the stumps and scored only 1 to catch Sciver well off his ground.
It's not like she really left. Beaumont scored only 39 balls and 59 off 50 in his ninth T20I half-century to restrict the hosts to 31 for 2 in their chase of a modest target. Carrying out his stellar form from the winter tour of New Zealand in the first half of this multi-format series, Beaumont scored 10, 0 and 18 in the last two ODIs and the first T20I.
On this occasion, he played the required innings for his side, hitting seven fours and scoring 75 off just 65 balls with Knight. After avoiding India's review when Sharma was ruled not out in the 14th over, replays showed the ball had pitched outside off-stump, Beaumont was dismissed two balls later, when he failed to reverse his dismissal. , rapped on the pads in an attempt to sweep again. Sharma name of cast. Considering the depth of England's batting, his dismissal should not have caused panic.
India's one success turned into two, when England needed 43 for 38, Knight was dismissed the very next ball in exceptional circumstances. When Amy Jones hit Sharma towards mid-on, the bowler went right behind Knight and dropped the ball over the stumps with his foot as it fell under Knight's feet. Knight, trying to get back inside his crease, could not go over, goal, or behind Sharma and was run out, causing his apparent nervousness. The umpires recognized that there was no intentional interference on the part of Sharma and Knight agreed in a post-match press conference.
The two successes turned into outright collapses when Sophia Dunkley was run out and Jones was caught by Sneha Rana off Poonam, before she struck again to remove Brunt. England looked like home on the back of Beaumont and Knight to rely on their tail and when Villiers was run out by a Harleen Deol throw to Ghosh, England needed 12 runs off four balls. It proved to be too much.