The Indian women’s team started their campaign with a bang, with a 64-run win against their arch rivals Pakistan in a Group 1 fixture at Edgbaston on Sunday
Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss and elected to Bat first, citing the wicket to slow down as the game progresses.
Team India lost early wickets as Shefali and Jemimah Rodrigues went early when the scoreboard read 18/2. In comes the Indian Captain, along with Vice Captain Smriti Mandhana, putting a solid partnership of 91 runs for the third wicket.
Vice-Captain Smriti Mandhana scored 68 off 44, leading the team with a charge, and Harmanpreet Kaur added 36 off 35.
From 109/2 to 123/5, when it felt Pakistan had the momentum, as Pakistan got 3 quick wickets in succession
Mandhana was caught by Fatima Sana in the 13th over. Sadia had Bharti stumped as Team India were down to 123/5
Vows continued as Pakistan Skipper Fatima Sana sent back her opposite number, Harmanpreet Kaur for 36 in the 17th over
Harmanpreet surpassed former Indian skipper Mithali Raj as she became the highest run scorer for Team India in T20 World Cup history
When the chips were down, and it looked like India would struggle to go past 150, in came Richa Ghosh and smashed 23 off Tasmia Rubab’s overs, scoring 34 off 17 balls with a Strike Rate of 200.
Team India finished with a strong 170/6 on the board, putting Pakistan under pressure to score 171 to register a win.
Pakistan’s fielding was poor as they dropped 2 catches, and misfielding made it worse for them.
In the 2nd innings, Pakistan started well, even after the loss of Gul Feroza early. Pakistan posted 52/1 in 6 overs, courtesy Muneeba Ali scoring more runs- this was the highest successful powerplay score by Pakistan in T20 World Cup History
Team India gave 2 chances to Muneeba Ali inside first four overs, hence Muneeba capitalised on it
Deepti Sharma came as a nightmare for Pakistan as she got Ayesha Zafar in the first over
Sree Charani struck in the next, got the debutant Saira, and a bullseye throw by Deepti took Muneeba back to the dressing room
From 52/1 to 106/10
Pakistan Crumbled under pressure
Losing five wickets for just 26 runs puncturing pakistan hopes of putting up a fight.
Deepti Sharma took a fifer with 5/10 in 4 overs and claimed 350 international wickets.
Team India defeated Pakistan by 64 runs and extended their record to 7-2 in the T20 World Cup
This was Team India’s 14th win over Pakistan in 17 T20 matches
Deepti Sharma was adjudged as player of the match for 5/10, a Direct hit, and 12 runs with the bat- an all-round performance from one of the best all-rounders of the game.
Team India will now play the Netherlands on 17th June at the Headingley cricket ground in Leeds on Wednesday and will look to get back-to-back wins.