Women's T20 WC: Mandhana's half-century in vain as India lose to England
Gqeberha (South Africa), Feb 18: India vice-captain Smriti Mandhana's half-century (52 off 41 balls) and an entertaining 34-ball 47 from Richa Ghosh went in vain as India lost their ICC Women's T20 World Cup group match to England by 11 runs here on Saturday.
The cheap dismissals of opener Shafali Verma (8), Jemimah Rodrigues (13) and skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (4) contributed to the defeat as India could never recover from the top-order collapse.
Earlier, India had restricted England to 151 for seven with medium pacer Renuka Singh (5/15) registering her best bowling figures in the format after India opted to bowl.
Her five-wicket haul gave India hope that they could defeat the Heather Knight-led side, but Sarah Glenn (2/27 in 4 overs) and Sophie Ecclestone's (1/11 in 3 overs) restrictive bowling didn't allow Indian batters play their strokes freely.
Finally a winning total of 152 proved too much for India.
Brief Scores:
England: 151 for 7 in 20 overs (Nat Sciver-Brunt 50; Renuka Singh 5/15)
India: 140 for 5 in 20 overs (Smriti Mandhana 52, Richa Ghosh 47 not out; Sarah Glenn 2/27, Sophie Ecclestone 1/14).
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Trump says he ‘hasn’t even thought about’ continuing Iran ceasefire
Washington: US President Donald Trump has said he has not yet considered whether he would continue the ceasefire involving Iran, while also claiming the United States holds the advantage in negotiations.
Speaking to reporters, Trump said he was prepared to make a deal with “whoever is running the show” in Iran.
“They are fighting with each other, there’s tremendous infighting. They’re probably fighting for leadership in many cases. I think they’re fighting not to be leader because we knocked out two levels of leaders,” he said.
Trump added, “When they want they can call me. We have all the cards, we’ve won everything.”
Referring to ongoing negotiations, he said, “They gave us a paper that should’ve been better. And, interestingly, immediately when I cancelled it [envoy trip to Pakistan], within 10 minutes we got a new paper that was much better.”
“We talked about they will not have a nuclear weapon, very simple … They offered a lot, but not enough,” he added.
When asked whether he would continue the ceasefire, Trump replied, “I haven’t even thought about it.”
The remarks come as uncertainty remains over the future of the temporary truce and broader negotiations between Washington and Tehran.
