Indian eves beat England by 8 wickets in Twenty20 tourney

London, Aug 6 (UNI) Rumeli Dhar struck an unbeaten 66 to guide India to a comfortable eight-wicket win against England with four balls to spare in the NatWest Women's International Twenty20 at Derby.

After skipper Mithali Raj won the toss and inserted the hosts, Indian pace duo of vice captain Jhulan Goswami and Amita Sharma didn't give any leeway to the batswomen and five run out dismissals did the hosts in.

Jhulan drew the first blood when she castled rival skipper Charlotte Edwards for a duck and returned to remove Caroline Atkins to emerge as pick of the Indian bowlers, claiming two wickets conceding 14 runs in her four overs, which also included a maiden.

Jenny Gunn (38) and Claire Taylor (21) tried to steady the ship but it was merely delaying the inevitable. Taylor proved a poor judge of run and returned run out and then Preeti Dimri bowled Jenny and two more run outs saw England reaching 107 for eight wickets.

Chasing a victory target of 108 runs, India lost stumper-opener Sulakshana Naik for a duck in the second ball of the innings but Rumeli and Mithali Raj (28) struck a 86-run partnership to inch towards the target before Mithali fell to Beth Morgan.

Hemlata Kala (5 not out) then joined Rumeli and the duo guided India to victory with four balls to spare. Rumeli was unbeaten on 66 off 69 balls and studded her innings with six hits to the fence.

Brief score: England: 107 for 8 in 20 overs (Jenny Gunn 38, Claire Taylor 21, Jhulan Goswami 2/14) India : 109 for 2 in 19.2 overs (Rumeli Dhar 66, Mithali Raj 28, Katherine Brunt 1/10) UNI XC AY PM1105