Mithali Raj top scored as India Women secured a dominant 7-wicket victory over their arch rivals Pakistan Women on Sunday (Nov 11) in their second game of the ongoing Women’s World T20 2018. With this victory, India Women with 2 wins in 2 games have placed themselves at the second position in the Group B while Pakistan who are yet to register a win after two games are at the third position.
Having opted to bowl first, Indian bowlers struck early picking up three early wickets. India then went on to drop as many as four straight forward chances in the latter part of the innings. Nida Dar was dropped twice on 15 and 29 and Bismah Mahroof was dropped on 28, and the two added 94 runs off 71 balls for the 4th wicket. This is Pakistan’s best partnership against India (for any wicket) in this format of the game.
Both Nida and Mahroof went on to register their respective half centuries which helped Pakistan get to 133 for 7 in their 20 overs. This is their best T20I total against India Women, with 104 being their previous best. During the 13th over and the final over, Pakistan batters ran on the pitch while taking runs and that prompted the on-field umpires to add 10 runs to India’s total even before the chase started.
Indian Openers – Raj and Smriti Mandhana – gave them a perfect start in the chase adding 73 runs for the first wicket in just 9.3 overs. Mithali with a fine half century (56 off 47 balls) took India almost close to the victory before she fell in the 18th over. Captain Harmanpreet Kaur and Veda Krishnamurthy then paired up and helped India get over the line with a 7-wicket victory.
Brief scores:
India Women – 137/3 in 19 overs (Mithali Raj – 56, Smriti Mandhana – 26, Nida Dar – 1/17, Diana Baig – 1/19) beat Pakistan Women – 133/7 in 20 overs (Bismah Maroof – 53, Nida Dar – 52, Poonam Yadav – 2/22, Dayalan Yadav – 2/34) by 7 wickets.
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