Deepti Sharma's 'mankad' dismissal leaves England dressing room in utter shock; Watch

India women's cricket team gave a fitting farewell to veteran Jhulan Goswami by inflicting a whitewash on the England team in their backyard on Saturday. The low-scoring thriller saw India win the match by 16 runs while defending 170 on board. India's  ODI series triumph in England was their first since 1999. However, the India women vs England Women 3rd ODI match had its fair share of controversy as well following the Deepti Sharma 'mankad' incident in the last over.

England no stranger to 'mankading' as Deepti prevails over Dean

The 'mankading' incident happened in the 44th over with England women almost cruising towards victory. Sharma was into her delivery stride when England batter Charlie Dean at the non-striker's end went too far ahead of the crease. The Indian off-spinner dislodged the bails leaving Dean dumbstruck as she threw her bat to the ground in tears. England players sitting on the Lord's dressing room balcony looked on in disbelief. The field umpires decided to go to the third umpire who confirmed the run-out handing India the victory. Charlie Dean was, therefore, dismissed for 47 runs.

This action, which is well within the laws of cricket, left England's Playing XI visibly aggrieved as the mode of dismissal is still seen by many as against the spirit of the game. India's veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin grabbed the eyeballs in IPL 2019 after he dismissed the then Rajasthan Royals and star England batsman Jos Buttler at the non-striker's end while backing up in an incident that sparked major uproar on the real 'spirit of cricket'. “Why the hell are you trending Ashwin? Tonight is about another bowling hero Deepti Sharma,” tweeted Ashwin in support of Sharma on Saturday.

India women vs England Women: Harmanpreet Kaur backs Deepti Sharma mankad incident

Sharma's mankading incident once again brought the 'spirit of the game' in question with commentators left unimpressed by her actions. While the dismissal was within the laws, India captain Harmanpreet during the post-match presentation was asked to reveal her thoughts on the controversial dismissal which handed team India the victory. 

Kaur, in her statement, backed the all-rounder and said she doesn’t think that they did anything wrong. “Well, to be honest I thought you will be asking about the first 9 wickets, as they were not easy to take. It’s a part of the game, I don’t think we have done something new. It shows your awareness, what batters are doing. I will back my players, she hasn’t done something outside the rules. After the first game we discussed, we wanted to do really well, we have that much potential. We want to continue this kind of cricket," she said in reply.

Coming to the match, India was able to put 169 runs on the board, thanks to Sharma's unbeaten 68 runs off 106 balls. Opener Smriti Mandhana was dismissed after scoring 50 runs in 79 deliveries. Among England bowlers, medium pacer Kate Cross returned with excellent figures of 4/26, while Freya Kemp and Sophie Ecclestone shared two wickets each.

England suffered a top-order batting collapse before Charlie Dean put up a good fight at the end to bring the match within their grasp. The hosts were bowled out for 153 runs in 43.3 overs. Dean top-scored with 47 runs, while captain Amy Jones contributed with 28 runs. For India, Renuka Singh bowled brilliantly to end the match with outstanding figures of 4/29 in 10 overs. Jhulan Goswami and Rajeshwari Gayakwad scalped two wickets apiece.