(Cricket news) India women started their T20 World Cup campaign with a thrilling victory over arch rivals Pakistan. India women were hit with a massive blow as a finger injury to vice captain Smriti Mandhana kept her out of contention. Yastika Bhatia opened the batting while Harleen Deol was played as the extra batter instead of all-rounder Devika Vaidya to make up for Mandhan’s absence. Seamers Shikha Pandey and Anjali Sarvani were left out as India went with just two seamers. Pakistan on the other hand left out all-rounder Omaima Sohail. Pakistan captain Bismah Mahroof won the toss and elected to bat first.

Pakistan started the innings really well as they made the most of the powerplay despite losing Javeria Khan early. Skipper Bismah Mahroof anchored the innings as she scored an unbeaten 68 off 55 balls hitting 7 boundaries. Ayesha Naseem showed her hitting ability as she scored 43 not out off 25 balls hitting 2 boundaries and 2 maximums.

India women’s confidence took a massive hit because their key bowler Deepti Sharma who is usually very economical went for a lot of runs. At the death, India conceded a few too many runs as the bowlers didn’t bowl tight lines. Radha Yadav was the pick of the bowlers as she finished with the figures of 2/21 in her 4 overs. Pakistan managed to get 149 runs on the board which was an above par score. 

Shafali Verma gave India a terrific start with her 25 ball 33 including 4 fours. Yastika Bhatia had a point to prove but she could only manage 17 off 20 balls before getting out to Sadia Iqbal. Verma was dismissed by Nashra Sandhu who later also got rid of skipper Harmanpreet Kaur. Sandhu bowled an incredible spell of 2/15 as she kept Pakistan in the game till the very end.

Jemimah Rodrigues was the star of the show as she hit a 38 ball 52 to lead India women to victory with an over to spare. Rodrigues hit 8 boundaries as she paced the run chase perfectly after coming at number 3. Richa Ghosh got 31 off 20 balls which ended up being a game changing knock. She provided much needed acceleration with 3 consecutive boundaries in the 18th over.

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