Women's T20 WC: India Start campaign In Style, Beat Pakistan By 7 Wickets
Anukriti is a student who dabbles in writing when she finds time.
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By Anukriti Roy
First publised on 2023-02-13 02:17:32
About the Author
Anukriti is a student who dabbles in writing when she finds time.
View all posts by this Author
India began
its T20 World Cup campaign in style by chasing down the second highest total in
Cup history with 7 wickets in hand and one over to spare. It was a
comprehensive victory over arch-rivals Pakistan after the Pakistani women has
set India a tough target of 150 runs. But the Indians did not buckle under
pressure and went about the task in a professional manner although at one time,
with the asking rate creeping up to 9.5, it did seem that they were losing the
plot.
But Jemimah
Rodrigues (53 not out) was like a rock at one end and paced her innings in an
excellent manner, much like what Pakistani skipper Bismah Maroof did earlier.
With her signature punching of the bat after each boundary, Jemimah oozed
class, both while defending and then when finding the gaps or taking the aerial
route in the death overs. She was ably supported by Shafali Verma, Harmanpreet
Kaur and Richa Ghosh. Ghosh (31 off just
20 balls) showed why she is the most feared finisher in the format now. For
Pakistan, Nashra Sandhu was outstanding with 2 for 15 from 4 overs.
When the
Pakistanis batted, the Indian bowlers had them in trouble at one stage. But the
brilliance of skipper Bismah Maroof (68 not out off 55 balls) and Ayesha Naseem
(43 not out off 25) and the perfect use of the death overs saw Pakistan post a
formidable score of 149 for 4. The Indian bowlers faltered in the death overs
and allowed Naseem to score at will. India conceded 20-30 runs too many. Radha
Yadav bowled well and returned figures of 2 for 21 in her 4 overs.
The
Pakistanis were sloppy on the field with dropped catches and mis-fields allowing
the Indians to get over the pressure of a mounting asking rate in the middle
overs. All Indian batters got a start which will stand them in good stead in
the remaining matches. India carries a lot of positives from the match but needs
to bowl better in the death overs and the batters must build on the starts they get.
