India clinch second win of Women’s World T20 as Richa Ghosh and Deepti Sharma shine

Team India continued to roll at their finest despite a sloppy start to their chase as they romped over West Indies to register their second win of the tournament, thanks to another swashbuckling knock from Richa Ghosh accompanied perfectly by Harmanpreet Kaur at the other end.

Opting to bat first, the Caribbean skipper realized the howler that she had conjured after failing to comprehend a slower delivery from Pooja Vastrakar, holing out to Richa Ghosh behind the stumps. However, the Caribbean batters reeled things back in as Stafanie Taylor and Shemaine Campbelle, two of West Indies’ finest batters hacked their way through a bunch of desperate Indian bowlers who found it hard to get their lengths correct.

After a staggering 73-run stand for the second wicket, the Indian bowlers clawed their way back, thanks to a sumptuous display from Deepti Sharma who rattled through the backbone of the Islanders in the same over, bagging the scalps of Taylor and Campbelle. Despite a late surge of resilience from Chedean Nation and Shabika Gajnabi, the Indian bowlers continued their ruthless aggression and confined West Indies to a modest 118 for the loss of 6 at the end of 20 overs.

India was off to a flyer, thanks to a string of exquisite strikes from Shafali Verma while Smriti Mandhana did get off to a start but failed to capitalize. The departure of Mandhana opened up a Pandora’s Box for India as they lost Jemimah Rodriguez and Shafali Verma in quick succession, crippling India at 43 for the loss of 3.

It was then when the Indian skipper usurped control of the proceedings, calmly keeping the scorecard ticking accompanied by the pyrotechnics from the blazing willow of Richa Ghosh, once again enforcing herself upon the opposition and leading India to the gates of another win.

Harmanpreet Kaur fell just ahead of the finish line for a well-constructed 33 while Richa stayed unbeaten for 44 runs from just 32 balls. India sailed hammer and tongs to the second position of the Group B, thanks to two consecutive wins and a swashbuckling NRR, as Deepti Sharma was awarded the Player of the Match for her match-winning spell.