Women's T20 World Cup 2024: Slim win against Pakistan ignites India's WC hope

Shreyanka Patil (second from left) celebrates after claiming the wicket of Pakistan’s Tuba Hassan in Dubai yesterday. Pics/Getty Images

It was not as convincing a win as India would have liked, but it was enough to keep them alive in the Women's T20 World Cup. In hot and humid weather, they got the better of arch-rivals Pakistan by six wickets after their bowlers had done an excellent job by restricting the rivals to 105-8 on a rather sluggish pitch. One would have expected the Indian batters to show more urgency and chase the target much quicker to improve their Net Run Rate. But with wickets falling at regular intervals, they had to be satisfied with getting to the target with just seven balls to spare.

Confidence-boosting victory

One could say that they have not only come back into contention, but also regained some confidence which was dented badly following their heavy defeat to New Zealand in their opening game. The big loss had hit their NRR too, which also required improvement. They did manage to improve it slightly (from -2.90 to -1.22), but still is a long way down compared with NRRs of the top two teams in the group New Zealand (2.90) and Australia (1.90).

Richa Ghosh takes a catch to dismiss Pakistan skipper Fatima Sana

Although India only needed to score barely at 5.25 an over to overhaul the target, they were rather circumspect, preferring to play safe in the wake of their poor batting display against the White Ferns. Besides, opener Smriti Mandhana was back in the pavilion rather early. It was her second successive failure, which is not a good sign for India as she is a top-notch batter and her form is crucial to India's fortune in the tournament. Fortunately, Shafali Verma had some useful time in the middle (32 off 35). Things slowed down when Jemimah Rodrigues and Richa Ghosh were dismissed off successive balls.

Also Read: 'We did think about NRR but we were a little calculative': Smriti Mandhana

Skipper Kaur injured

Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur held one end up, but when the victory was in sight, she had to retire after spraining her neck. She slipped trying to play an extravagant shot. However, the following delivery, Sanjeevan Sajana collected the brace needed for a win to bring joy to the faces of the goodly Sunday crowd who cheered the team lustily right through the match.

When Pakistan opted to bat, the Indian team had a spring in their feet and their bowling for once was top-class. All five bowlers were spot on, never allowing the Pakistan batters to break free. Opener Muneeba Ali tried to break the shackles, but was stumped off the wily Shreyanka Patil. Be it pacers Renuka Thaku and Arundhati Reddy or the spinning trio of Shreyanka, Asha Sobhana and Deepti Sharma, were all parsimonious, conceding less than six an over.

Just eight fours by Pakistan

The Pakistani batters showed intent, but did not have the power or timing to clear the big boundaries on a low and slow wicket, managing just eight fours during their innings. The experienced Nida Dar was the top scorer with 28 from 34 balls.

Credit should be given to Harmanpreet Kaur, who rotated the bowlers well and kept up the pressure. She had the fielders in the right places and did not allow the batters freebies. Probably, the only sore point was the catching, with Sobhana dropping two sitters, while wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh let off a stumping. After playing in the scorching afternoon heat, the India players must be happy to have two days of rest before their next game against Sri Lanka on Wednesday.

Brief scores
Pakistan 105-8 in 20 overs (N Dar 28; A Reddy 3-19, S Patil 2-12) lost to India 108-4 in 18.5 overs (S Verma 32; F Sana 2-23) by six wickets