Birmingham

A strong knock by Smriti Mandhana and tight bowling by Sneh Rana helped the Indian women's cricket team make history and confirm a medal in their first-ever outing at the Commonwealth Games as they clinched a thrilling 4-run win over England in the semifinal on Saturday.

Batting first, India set a target of 165 for the home side. Smriti Mandhana with 61 runs and Jemimah Rodrigues with an unbeaten 44 were the top scorers for India.

Freya Kemp was the pick of the English bowlers. She took two wickets for 22 runs in her allotted 4 overs.

Chasing 165, England looked in contention to win the match. A great 54-run stand between skipper Nat Sciver (41) and Amy Jones (31) threatened to take away the match from Women in Blue.

However, India managed to hold their nerves and defended 14 runs in the final over to win the match by four runs.

Sneh Rana took two wickets for 28 runs in her four overs.

This is the first time women's cricket is being played in the commonwealth games.

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India will play the either Australia or New Zealand in the final.