(Cricket news) After winning against South Africa, India Women continued their good form with a 56 run win over West Indies. India made a couple of changes to their side as skipper Harmanpreet Kaur came in for Sneh Rana. Shikha Pandey made a much awaited international return as she replaced Anjali Sarvani. West Indies brought in Shanika Bruce for Shakera Selman. India looked very good with bat and ball even though they were missing a few of their key players. India Women won the toss and elected to bat first.
Batting first India got off to a bit of a slow start as the West Indies kept things tight. India Women were 37/1 after the powerplay as Karishma Ramharack got rid of Yastika Bhatia who got 18 off 23. Harleen Deol walked in at number 3 and got off to a decent start before being dismissed on 12 by Shanika Bruce. Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur came in and settled things down along with her deputy Smriti Mandhana as they got an unbeaten partnership of 115.
Mandhana scored 74 not out off 51 balls including 10 fours and a six. Harmanpreet on the other hand scored 56 off 35 balls hitting 8 fours. Jemimah Rodrigues who is a top order batter was once again pushed down the order as she didn’t get a chance to bat. India Women managed to put a stiff target of 168 on the board.
West Indies never looked up for the chase as they didn’t score runs at a quicker rate. Deepti Sharma’s bowling in the powerplay with the new ball picked up the wickets of the openers Rashada Williams and Britney Cooper. Shabika Gajnabi was dismissed by Rajeshwari Gayakwad just after the powerplay. Skipper Hayley Matthews and Shemaine Campbelle put together a partnership of 71 but it was way to slow for a chase of 168. Campbelle took 57 balls to score 47 runs and was eventually dismissed by Radha Yadav. The Indian bowlers were very tight with their lines and lengths as they didn’t give the Windies much margin. West Indies played out 20 overs but fell 56 runs short.
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