India-W pip Pakistan to pocket two important points in Women’s T20 World Cup 2024

The Women in Blue are back in the ongoing ICC Women’s T20 World Cup and how! Team India returned to winning ways in the biennial extravaganza as they outplayed Pakistan in both the departments. Despite a bit of a late stutter, the Indian women held the reins together and crossed the finish line to log their first win of the tournament.

Renuka Singh struck the first blow of the afternoon as her inswinger rattled through the gates of Gull Feroza (0). Not long after, Sidra Ameen’s (8) residence in the center was cut short by Deepti Sharma. Despite Muneeba Ali being dropped at short third by Asha Sobhana in Arundhati Reddy’s second over, the latter got her reward in the form of Omaima Sohail (3) on the penultimate delivery of that over with Shafali Verma claiming an easy catch.

Shreyanka Patil got rid of the set Muneeba Ali (17) as Richa Ghosh made no mistake in breaking the stumps with the former out of the crease. Aliya Riaz (4) fell prey to Reddy as Pakistan soon wobbled at 52/5. The Pakistani captain, Fatima Sana (13) did try to cook up a storm but a sensational stunner by Richa Ghosh off Asha Sobhana’s bowling removed the former.

Tuba Hassan departed against Shreyanka without troubling the scorers whatsoever but this was followed by a fighting stand between Nida Dar (28) and Syeda Aroob Shah (14). The duo posted 28 runs for the eight wicket, stabilizing the ship for Pakistan but the Indian bowlers kept their guards up high in terms of the scoring rate as they stalled their arch-rivals for 105/8. Arundhati Reddy was the pick of the lot with figures of 3/19.

India, during the chase, were jolted to a rude awakening as Smriti Mandhana (7) fell early trying to find the gap. But a change at No.3 which saw Jemimah Rodrigues come out to bat, allowed India to keep a partnership building. Jemi (23) and Shafali Verma (32) added 43 runs for the second wicket to steer India to a decent position. Despite the double whammy which saw Fatima Sana claiming Rodrigues and Richa Ghosh on consecutive deliveries, the Indian captain, Harmanpreet Kaur made no mistake in taking her team towards the finish line. Reddy won the Player of the Match award for her scintillating performance with the ball in her hands.