England pull off last-ball win despite Smriti Mandhana's 58

Smriti Mandhana smashed it around for a half-century in a modest chase, but it wasn't enough for India. Despite having six wickets in hand, they failed to score the three runs they needed off the final over, bowled by Kate Cross in the third T20I. Just like in New Zealand, the end result was a T20I series whitewash.

Mithali Raj, in control at that stage after having made 32 off 30 balls, was stranded at the other end and didn't get to face a single ball as Cross conceded just one run and picked up two wickets to stop India short.

It wasn't a big chase, just 120 runs, after the Indian spinners had done well to keep the England batsmen quiet in the first half. But the runs still needed to be scored, and India needed Mandhana to provide the thrust after successive failures.

The captain lived up to her billing with a 39-ball 58, but the back-up act never quite arrived the way it needed to. Raj, batting at No. 4, did more than just her bit, but could only watch from the other end as Cross dismissed Bharati Fulmali and Anuja Patil in the final over, and the strike just didn't turn. Only one run came off the last ball, faced by Shikha Pandey, and England ended their India tour with one trophy in the bag after the ODI series disappointment.

Harleen Deol failed again at the top for India, but with a sedate Jemimah Rodrigues by her side, Mandhana took on the England bowling, showing a particular liking for Linsey Smith's left-arm spin. She hit Smith for two fours in the fourth over of the innings and, after hitting the only six of the innings off Kate Cross, took Smith for two more fours in the tenth over after the bowler had accounted for Rodrigues.

Mandhana duly completed her ninth half-century in T20I cricket, but couldn't go on for much longer as Laura Marsh struck. Just how dominant Mandhana was can be gauged from the team score when she was dismissed: 87.

One wicket brought another for England as Deepti Sharma was run-out, but Raj kept India on course, and it seemed all-but-sewed-up when the final over started. But the strike never went to Raj, and the third T20I ended the way the first two had - in defeat for India.

The five-pronged Indian spin attack did extremely well in the first half. Deepti, who opened the bowling with her offspin alongside pacer Pandey, went wicketless, but Patil and Deol, the other two offspinners in the line-up, picked up two wickets apiece, while left-arm spinner Ekta Bisht and Poonam Yadav, the legspinner, got one each.

It didn't start badly for England after they opted for first strike upon winning the toss, with Danielle Wyatt and Tammy Beaumont giving them a solid half-century stand. Wyatt, coming off knocks of 35 and 64 not out in the two England wins, struck 24 in 22 balls and Beaumont hit 29 in 27, but they slipped from 51 for no loss to 54 for 3 in under three overs and never really recovered.

Amy Jones did chip in with a 21-ball 26, but there was little of note from the other batsmen, and no real partnership of note, as England put up what seemed like a below-par total. But with the Indian batting showing little steel with the exception of Mandhana, it proved just enough.