England women fall to second successive defeat with heavy loss to India

Danni Wyatt top scored for England with 31

England's preparations for the women's T20 tri-series final were hit by a second heavy defeat in as many days, this time an eight-wicket loss to India in Mumbai.

After being bowled out for 96 by Australia on Wednesday, England were dismissed for 107 by the hosts.

Smriti Mandhana then cracked 62 not out from 41 balls to give India their first victory of the tournament.

England, who won their first two games, meet Australia in Saturday's final.

In those two victories, England chased 150 to defeat Australia and then a record 199 to beat India.

However, they have now crumbled twice when setting a target.

Here, they were suffocated by India's quartet of spinners, who took nine wickets between them and were backed up by a vastly improved display in the field.

England captain Heather Knight told BBC Sport: "We didn't get enough runs again. We lost wickets at regular intervals. If we could have punched out 130 or 140, we might have been in the game.

"T20 cricket has a habit of turning around very quickly. We're an inexperienced side, we have used this tour to give opportunities to players. It's frustrating that we didn't learn from what happened yesterday, maybe that learning will take a little longer to come.

"Saturday is a different game. If we get asked to bat first, we have to find a way to get a score. It's not ideal, but we'll be trying to put in a performance to get the win."

There was no sign of the trouble to come when opener Danni Wyatt was on the way to 31 from 22 balls, helping England to 59-1.

But, after she offered a sharp return catch to off-spinner Deepti Sharma, it began a collapse that saw Heather Knight's side lose their last nine wickets for 48 runs.

All of the top six passed 10 without making a telling contribution, and the slide of the lower-order - the final five wickets fell for only 11 - included a wonderful full-length diving catch at long-off by India captain Harmanpreet Kaur that accounted for Danielle Hazell and perfectly encapsulated the strides her side have made during the tournament.

To have any chance of getting back into the contest, England needed to make an instant impact with the ball, only for Tammy Beaumont to drop a simple chance at square-leg off Mandhana, who struck three boundaries in the same Katie George over.

Hazell's off-spin did at least have both Mithali Raj and Jemimah Rodrigues caught at mid-off, but Mandhana's rapid start meant that she and Harmanpreet could afford a risk-free approach in their unbroken third-wicket stand of 60.

India's win, only their third against England in women's T20s, was completed with 26 balls to spare.