Cape Town: Jemimah Rodrigues’ brilliant unbeaten 53, coupled with a swashbuckling 31 not out by Richa Ghosh helped India beat Pakistan by 7 wickets with an over to spare in the T20 Women’s World Cup here on Sunday.
Pakistan, choosing to bat first, stuttered to 68/4 in the 13th over as Radha Yadav (2/21) and other Indian bowlers kept the opposition under a tight leash. But an unbeaten 81-run partnership between skipper Bismah Maroof (68 not out) and Ayesha Naseem (43 not out) took Pakistan to their highest T20I total against India.
Shafali Verma (33 off 25 balls) got the Indian eves off to a decent start. And though Yastika Bhatia and skipper Harmanpreet Kaur failed to stay at the crease for long, 22-year-old Jemimah and wicketkeeper-batter Richa displayed great maturity and sense of purpose to accelerate at just the right time.
India will face the West Indies on February 15. The other teams in Group 2 are England and Ireland.
Brief scores: Pakistan 149/4 in 20 overs (Bismah Maroof 68*, Ayesha Naseem 43*; Radha Yadav 2/21). India 151/3 in 19 overs (Jemimah Rodrigues 53*, Shafali Verma 33, Richa Ghosh 31*; Nashra Sandhu 2/15).
Result: India won by 7 wickets.
Man of the Match: J Rodrigues.
India’s next match: Vs West Indies (Feb 15, 6.30 pm).
