Harmanpreet Kaur Guides India To Final-Over Victory To Launch Tri-Series espncricinfo.com

India 5 for 150 (Kaur 42*, Verma 30, Brunt 2-33) beat England 7 for 147 (Knight 67, Beaumont 37, Gayakwad 2-19) by five wickets. Harmanpreet Kaur held her nerve to steer India to victory with three balls to spare in the opening match of the T20I tri-series in Canberra after opposite number Heather Knight had helped England recover from a poor start with the bat. India were well ahead of the rate early in the chase of 148 as Shafali Verma showed her power at the top and Jemimah Rodrigues gave glimpses of her class at No. 3, but made heavy weather of it in the second half. With 26 needed off 18 balls, it was starting to favour England. However, Kaur and Deepti Sharma got it down to six from the final over and the captain finished it with a lofted six. Knight, who was dropped twice, led England's revival with a career-best 67 off 44 balls as they rebounded from 4 for 59 to post a competitive total alongside a lively innings from Tammy Beaumont. There were a couple of controversial moments during the match: Fran Wilson was bowled off what looked like a no-ball and Amy Jones, the England wicket keeper, claimed a catch which had fallen to the ground in the first over of India's chase before the third umpire reversed the decision.