England rallied to secure their place in the World Cup semi-finals while India's defeat puts their last four chances in jeopardy.
England cruised to a four-run win over India to book a place in the semi-finals at the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup on Sunday, leaving tournament co-organizers with a five-way battle for the remaining place in the final four.
Chasing a winning target of 289, India stumbled from a position of strength and narrowly missed out as their 50 overs were restricted to 284-5.
For most of their innings, India were on course for victory with Smriti Mandhana scoring 88 and captain Harmanpreet Kaur scoring 70 runs.
England captain Nat Skiver-Brant took 2-47 and left-arm spinner Lynsey Smith took a narrow 1-40 from 10 overs, including the key wicket of Mandhana, to stall the home side and help secure a stunning victory.
It was India's third defeat in a row – after losses to Australia and South Africa – and it stunned the home team at the Holkar Stadium.
This came after England elected to bat first and posted 288-8, with Heather Knight scoring 109 off 91 balls.
England joined defending champions Australia and South Africa in the semi-finals for their fourth win in five games. The four-time champions next play Australia on Wednesday at the same stadium.
India remain fourth with four points from five games and need a major improvement in form against New Zealand on Thursday and Bangladesh on Sunday in the remaining two group games.
“Smriti's sacking was a turning point,” Kaur said. “We had enough strikes to finish the game but I don't know how things went differently. Credit to England – they continued to bowl well and continued to get wickets.”
Co-hosts Sri Lanka will take on Bangladesh in Navi Mumbai on Monday.
India is coming
The chase didn't start well. Pratika Rawal was trailing by six and Charlie Dean caught Harleen Deol's leg before the wicket for 24.
Mandhana and Kaur then combined for 42-2 and the pair added 125 runs off 122 balls for the third wicket, with India seemingly sailing on a batting surface.
Kaur completed her half-century off 54 balls, while Mandhana was content to play the leading role. She scored her second fifty in a row off 60 balls.
Skiver-Brant managed to dismiss Kaur but India were still favorites to win.
Deepti Sharma scored 50 off 57 and scored 67 off 66 with Mandhana.
India needed 62 from the last 60 deliveries, but the momentum changed when Mandhana played a decisive blow against Smith in the 42nd over and was caught on the boundary.
India slumped from 234-3 to 262-6 in 33 innings with Sharma bowled out by Sophie Ecclestone (1-58) in the 47th over.
England piled on the pressure as Amanjot Kaur (18 not out) and Sneh Rana (10 not out) failed to complete the chase.
The knight shines
Knight scored her third ODI hundred to lead England's innings.
England made a good start with openers Tammy Beaumont (22) and Amy Jones making 73 runs. Jones scored 56 from 68 balls.
Sharma, an off-spinner, accounted for both openers before Knight took over the innings, including a 113-run third-wicket stand with Skiver-Brant (38 off 49).
“I sat down and put my foot on the gas. It felt like we needed 300 on this pitch, but it was disappointing that we couldn't do it in the end,” Knight said. “I desperately wanted to have a big performance at my 300th concert. [international game] and I'm glad to do it.”
Knight reached her century off 86 balls, including 14 fours and a six. She was dropped in the 45th over as England slid towards the end, having lost five wickets for 31 runs in 5.1 overs.
Sharma returned figures of 4-51 in 10 overs and then made a half-century, but it wasn't enough that day.
