Dubai: Opener Shafali Verma top-scored with 32 as India huffed and puffed to complete a chase of 106 and beat Pakistan by six wickets to get their first win of the 2024 Women’s T20 World Cup at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday.
After restricting Pakistan to 105/8, India were expected to complete the chase in a jiffy with an eye to boost their net run rate. But with Pakistan being disciplined with their bowling on a slow pitch, India could amass only 25/1 in power-play, before Shafali, Jemimah Rodrigues (23) and Harmanpreet Kaur (29) ensured the chase was completed with seven balls to spare.
Chasing 106, Shafali survived an lbw decision off Fatima Sana when the replay showed the ball missing stumps. With Pakistan stifling run-flow with tight bowling, the pressure on India to break free resulted in Smriti Mandhana slicing a wide ball from Sadia Iqbal to point in the fifth over.
After India ended the power play with just the second instance of them not hitting a boundary inside the six-over phase in women's T20Is, Shafali hit India’s first boundary by pulling Tuba Hassan for four on the first ball of the eighth over. She then lofted a low-full toss from Tuba for four, before slog-sweeping Omaima Sohail for another boundary.
Just as Shafali signalled a shift of gears, she danced down the pitch to loft Omaima but holed out to long-on. A boundary-less run of almost five overs resulted in Jemimah trying to break free by giving herself room to go inside-out against Fatima but got a thick edge behind.
One brought two for Fatima as Richa Ghosh went for a cut on her first ball, but gave a thin edge behind. Harmanpreet took India closer to the win with a lofted shot over cover off a slower ball from Fatima but retired hurt on 29 after losing her balance and injuring her neck. Sajeevan Sajana finished off the game in style with a lofted four over mid-off to give India the win in an innings where they hit only four boundaries.
Earlier, seam-bowling all-rounder Arundhati Reddy was the pick of bowlers with 3-19 as India restricted Pakistan to 105/8.
Taking the field after being thoroughly outclassed by New Zealand on Friday, India put in a much-improved effort with the ball by bowling tighter lines and not giving Pakistan any freebies on a slow and low pitch offering extra bounce.
At one point, Pakistan was in danger of not reaching three figures, before lower-order contributions, led by Nida Dar’s 28, helped them get past 100 in an innings where they played 58 dot balls. Pushed into bowling first, Renuka Singh Thakur brought India the first breakthrough by castling Gull Feroza with a big inswinger in the opening over.
Brief scores: Pakistan 105/8 (Nida Dar 28; Arundhati Reddy 3-19) lost to India 108/4 in 18.5 overs (Shafali Verma 32; Fatima Sana 2-23) by six wickets. IANS
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