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Smriti Mandhana breaks down after close defeat to England, tears welled in eyes

Samira Vishwas | October 20, 2025 6:24 AM CST

In the thrilling match played between India and England in the Women’s ODI World Cup on Sunday (October 19), the result was decided in the last overs. England batted first and scored 288 runs, which saw a brilliant century from captain Heather Knight. Knight played an innings of 109 runs in 91 balls, which included 15 fours and one six.

While chasing the target, India also had a strong start and at one point the team was moving towards victory. In the last 10 overs, India needed only 62 runs and had 7 wickets in hand, but the match changed as soon as Smriti Mandhana, who was playing on 88 runs, was out. He tried to play a long shot off Linsey Smith but the ball was caught at long-off. After this, Richa Ghosh (8) and Deepti Sharma (50) also quickly returned to the pavilion.

Deepti Sharma took four wickets in her brilliant bowling, but her batting could not help the team win. For England, Sophie Ecclestone and Smith dashed India’s hopes by taking wickets at crucial moments.

At the same time, Smriti Mandhana could not control her emotions after this defeat. As soon as the match ended, she was seen in the dugout with tears in her eyes. Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur also expressed her disappointment over the defeat in the post-match presentation after the match, saying, “Smriti’s wicket was the turning point for us, I can’t understand how we lost this match. We had the entire match, but everything went out of hand in the last five overs.”

This was India’s third consecutive defeat, making the next match against New Zealand a ‘do or die’ affair. At the same time, with this win, England has reached 9 points and secured a place in the semi-finals.