The Indian women continued their impressive run by beating Pakistan to register the third successive win in the Women’s World Cup match at County Ground, Derby. After winning the toss, Punam Raut and Sushma Verma scored some runs and were restricted to just 169 runs. The Indian bowlers led by Ekta Bisht bowled out Pakistan for 74 runs in 38.1 overs.
Indian captain Mithali Raj won the toss and elected to bat. The inform batter Smriti Mandhana was dismissed early for just 2 runs by Diana Bag. The Pakistani new ball bowlers Asmavia Iqbal and Diana Baig did not allow the Indian batters to score runs easily. At the end of 10 overs, India was 17 for 1. After the powerplay overs too, Punam Raut played positive shots and tried to put pressure back on Pakistan bowlers. Both Sharma and Raut added 67 runs for the second wicket. Punam Raut was dismissed for 47.
Mithali Raj, Harmanpreet Kaur, Deepti Sharma, Mona Meshram all struggled to hit boundaries and lost wickets at regular intervals. The wicketkeeper-batter Sushma Verma played a crucial knock of 33 in 35 balls and also put up an important partnership with Goswami to help India go post 150. The Indian women posted 169 for 9 in 50 overs.
Chasing the target of 170, Ekta Bisht broke the backbone of Pakistan batting line up taking 3 wickets in the first spell. Jhulan Goswami picked the wicket of Javeria Khan. Pakistan was reduced to 14 for 4 in 7.1 overs. At the end of first 10 overs, Pakistan was struggling at 20 for 4. The Indian bowlers did not allow Pakistan batters to score runs easily and lost wickets in clusters. Sana Mir was the top scorer for Pakistan with 29 runs. India won the match by 95 runs as they bowled out Pakistan for 74 in 38.1 overs.
In the other 3 matches, South Africa defeated West Indies, England defeated Sri Lanka and Australia defeated New Zealand
India 169 for 9 in 50 overs ( Punam Raut 47, Sushma Verma 33, Nashua Sandhu 4/26) beat Pakistan 74 in 38.1 overs ( Sana Mir 29, Ekta 5/18) by 95 runs
Indian Women 2, Pakistan Women 0
South Africa 51 for 0 in 6.2 overs ( L Lee 29*, L Wolvaardt 19*) beat West Indies 48 in 25.2 overs ( Nation 26, D Van Niekerk 4/0, M Kapp 4/14) by 10 wickets
South African Women 2, West Indies Women 0
England 206 for 3 in 30.2 overs ( Sarah Taylor 74*, Knight 82, Kanchana 2/38) beat Sri Lanka 204 for 8 in 50 overs ( Perera 46, Kanchana 34*, LA Marsh 4/45) by 7 wickets
England Women 2, Sri Lankan Women 0
Australia 220 for 5 in 48. 4 overs ( EA Perry 71, Lanning 48, AM Peterson 2/27) beat New Zealand 219 for 9 in 50 overs ( KT Perkins 52, SW Bates 51, JL Jonassen 3/33) by 5 wickets
Australian Women 2, New Zealand Women 0
The captain Mithali Raj said: We lost wickets at the top order. Sushma Verma and Jhulan Goswami added crucial runs which and after going past 160 it could be anybody game
The Man of the match Ekta Bisht said: It felt pretty good as I could put pressure on the Pakistan batters with dot balls and were confident of defending the total. The track was helpful for spinners. I hope that I could contribute more to the team in upcoming matches.
India’s next match is against Sri Lanka on 5th July at the same ground.
