T20 World Cup: India beat Pakistan – as it happened
Jenimah Rodriguez and the youngster Richa Ghosh lead India Women to a convincing victory with seven wickets over Pakistan in the T20 World Cup.
Ghosh tallied off to 31 not out in 20 balls to combine with half-centurion Jemimah Rodrigues and provided India a much needed spark in their opener at the 2023 Women T20WC. They gunned 150 with an over to spare. Shafali Verma and Yastika Bhatia built a great partnership as they put on 38 for the opening wicket. Yastike was dismissed by Sadia Iqbal in the final over.
Pakistan did not let the match gripped out of their control immediately, as Sidra Amin pulled off a stunning catch close to the ropes to send back Verma. Harmanpreet Kaur and Jemimah fought back, but Nashra Sandhu was too dominant as she sent back Kaur in the 14th over and provided Pakistan a massive boost. This Pakistan immediate resurgence gave teenager Richa Ghosh and Jemimah a motivation and took over the match from there to command India to an impressive victory.
Rodrigues batted calmly to produce 53 not out off 38 balls while Ghosh, 19, hit forcefully to reach 31 not out off 20 balls. Pakistan posted 149 for four while India posted 151 for three. The veteran cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin posted his admiration from the two women cricketers, ‘High quality runs chase this from [@BCCIWomen]. Jemima and Richa were fantastic, but what stuck out was how calm the dressing room was when we needed 40 from 4 overs.”
A change in bowling yielded success for the Indians as Radha Yadav moved out Muneeba Ali in the seventh over that resulted in another wicket in the next over and reducing Pakistan to 58 for 3 at the halfway mark. Jemimah’s Dhoni like performance boosted the Indian side to challenged totals of Pakistan and mobbed their way to an emphatic victory.
“Pakistan battled well but [at the] end of the day we wanted to win the game. Jemimah and Richa battled really well. All the players are keen to do well for the team. Whoever is getting an opportunity is pushing themselves. Good sign for us. Every match is important, no matter the opponent, but obviously Pakistan is a big game,” said Harman.
While the Cricketer of match Jemimah Rodrigues said that the innings meant a lot to her: “I actually don’t know what to say. I knew we had to build partnerships. I knew if we took it deep we would win. This innings means a lot to me. Hadn’t been getting scores for a long time. We were just taking it over by over. If we knew we were there till the end, we would win.
“We knew they would bowl a bad ball eventually and we would capitalize. It was a difficult wicket but being set helped. We want to do the simple things correctly. The results will take care of themselves.”
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