New Delhi: India women produced an all-round clinical show to continue their dominance in the shortest format over arch-rivals Pakistan women after thumping them by seven wickets in Women’s Asia Cup encounter. The match, which was being played at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium in Dambulla, saw the Women in Blue dominate in both the innings after they completed the chase in just 14.1 overs.
The Women in Blue rode on superlative efforts by their bowling brigade followed by a clinical batting display by Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana in the chase to start their campaign on a high. After winning the toss, Pakistan, who opted to bat first, were folded for just 108 runs in 19.2 overs in front aggressive Indian bowling line up.
Bowlers shine for India
Deepti Sharma proved to be the most valuable of all as her superlative spell of 3/20 dented the opposition and pushed them against the wall. Pooja Vastrakar, who gave the Women in Blue early breakthroughs, claimed two wickets in her four-over spell. Apart from these two, Renuka Singh bowled an economical spell to 2/14 to keep the score in check and Shreyanka Patil gave as many runs in 3.2 overs claiming two wickets. Sidra Ameen top-scored for Pakistan with 25 runs while Tuba Hasan and Fatima Sana played knocks of 22 each.
Shafali, Smriti dominate proceedings
Shafali and Smriti started off from word go as they completed rattled the Pakistan bowling attack for the first 10 overs, till the time Smriti departed. The batter played a lethal knock of 45 runs off just 31 deliveries which included nine boundaries. Shafali too was exquisite with her batting skills as she scored 40 runs in just 29 balls including 6 boundaries and a maximum.
While both the batters did the bulk of the scoring, the left over was taken care of by Dayalan Hemalatha, who scored 14 runs. Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and Jemimah Rodrigues remained unbeaten on 5 and 3 respectively with the latter hitting the winning shot. For Pakistan, Syeda Aroob Shah picked two wickets while Nashra Sandhu claimed one wicket. Indian next face UAE on Sunday while Pakistan take on Nepal the same day.
Indian women continued their dominance over arch-rivals Pakistan with sensational 7-wicket win in Women’s Asia Cup encounter. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
