Just weeks after the Under-19 girls won the inaugural Under-19 T20 World Cup, the senior side has started its T20 World Cup campaign with an excellent victory over arch-rivals Pakistan. The Indian women easily chased the target of 150 runs as Jemimah Rodrigues kept her cool to take the team to victory.
Earlier in the day, Pakistan won the toss and chose to bat first. The Women in Green didn’t have a great start, losing four wickets for just 68 runs. But, their skipper Bismah Maroof and Ayesha Naseem stitched together an 81-run stand to take the total to a competitive 149 runs.
Chasing the total, the Women in Blue started aggressively with a 38-run stand inside the first five overs, with both the openers Yastika Bhatia and Shafali Verma going great guns. However, as soon as the powerplay ended, the Indian team lost the plot with the runs drying and the pressure building on the chasing side.
With the fall of Harmanpreet Kaur’s wicket, the Indian team was in a spot of bother. But Richa Ghosh and Jemimah Rodrigues had other plans. The two batters took their time and targeted the right bowlers to take the team toward victory. Jemimah’s match-winning 53-run knock got her the “Player of the Match” award.
Team India next faces the Windies Women on February 15th.
