India's T20I series win in England good build-up to 2026 World Cup

Improved bowling and fielding have highlighted the Indian women's first T20I series win on English soil. Considering that India will play the T20 World Cup in the country in a year's time, India upstaging England at home hints at the foundation that the visitors are already laying for the marquee event.

- Samreen Razzaqui

"We had (the T20 World Cup) in mind when we started our preparation for this series. We picked our squad accordingly and we have started on a good note. The preparation has already started," India coach Amol Muzumdar said in his press conference following the fifth and final match of the series in Birmingham.

"We had a game plan in mind before we set off from India and we had a good camp and focused quite a bit on our bowling and fielding. Batting has been our strength for a long time. The departments we wanted to focus was our bowling and fielding and it has shown in the series."

It wasn't quite the perfect ending India might have hoped for on Saturday night but they walked away with a trophy and a lot of belief. It was a thrilling final-over defeat at Edgbaston in the final game where England chased down 168 off the very last ball, India sealing a 3-2 series win.