Birmingham: Another Cricket World Cup.
Another India versus Pakistan clash.
Another Indian victory.
This time, it was the women in blue who proved far superior to the green brigade.
Looking to launch their ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in a convincing fashion, Harmanpreet Kaur’s girls did just that at the Edgbaston stadium in Birmingham – winning by 64 runs.
Opting to bat first in the Group 1 contest after winning the toss, ODI world champions India lost Shafali Verma in the opening over after hitting the first ball for six. Jemimah Rodrigues fell cheaply, too. Then the team’s two most accomplished batters – Smriti Mandhana and Harmanp
reet — came together to get the team back on track.
The duo put on a sparkling 91-run partnership in 10 overs. A couple of catches did go down, and Smriti (68 off 44 balls, 9×4, 2×6) and Harmanpreet (36 off 35 balls) took full advantage. Pakistan seemed to pull things back with three wickets in the space of 2.3 overs, but Richa Ghosh’s power-packed 34 off 17 balls (5×4, 1×6) helped India reach an impressive 170/6.
Pakistan got off to a brisk start, mainly through Muneeba Ali’s 41.
However, once off-spinner Deepti Sharma and left-armer Shree Charani came on, Pakistan were pegged back slowly but surely.
On a pitch that aided the slower bowlers, Deepti broke through with the first two wickets and came back to polish off the tail to finish with dream figures of 5/10 in 4 overs.
In between, Shree Charani bagged three wickets to deny Pakistan any breathing space.
BRIEF SCORES
India Women 170/6 in 20 overs (Smriti Mandhana 68, Harmanpreet Kaur 36, Richa Ghosh 34; Fatima Sana 2/33, Sadia Iqbal 2/41).
Pakistan Women 106 all out in 17 overs (Muneeba Ali 41; Deepti Sharma 5/10, Shree Charani 3/21).
Player of the Match: Deepti Sharma.
India’s next match: Vs Netherlands (June 17, 7 pm).