WI W vs IND W | Stefanie Taylor, Anisa Mohammad star as West Indies beat India in a thriller
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West Indies women's captain Stefanie Taylor produced an amazing all-round performance as West-Indies completed a thrilling win over India by a solitary run. Anisa Mohammad backed it up with amazing bowling figures of 5 for 46 off her ten overs to help West Indies women scrape through to a win.
India women's tour of West Indies began with the ODI series that started yesterday at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua. West Indies batted first and were provided a good start by opener Natasha McLean who made a steady half-century off 82 balls. Deepti Sharma struck twice as the West Indies' innings was in a spot of bother. Skipper Stephanie Taylor came out to bat and first steadied the ship with fellow batter Chedean Nation who scored a well-made 43.
While Shikha Pandey and Jhulan Goswami were bowling tight lines and lengths and picking up wickets from one end, Taylor managed to keep the batting together and kept the scoreboard ticking. She felt just six short of what would have been a well-deserved hundred as she was caught by Harmanpreet Kaur off the bowling of Ekta Bisht. But West Indies made sure that they had something to bowl to with a total of 225 on the board.
India needed a steady start from their openers as 226 was not a very big target and openers Priya Punia and Jemimah Rodrigues exactly provided that. A 78-run opening stand was finally broken by skipper Taylor when Rodrigues departed for a handy 41. India were cruising at one stage with the score at 124 for 1. But batter Punam Raut was run out by Stacy-Ann King. Skipper Mithali Raj tried to stitch a partnership with opener Punia to take India to victory but Anisa Mohammad had some other plans.
She first removed Punia for a well-made 75 and then triggered an emphatic collapse from the Indian batting side. Deepti Sharma and Jhulan Goswami added vital runs at the end to keep India in the game. India needed nine off the last over with two wickets in hand. But Anisa Mohammad produced the best bowling spell of her career to provide an absolutely thrilling win for the West Indies by a single run after she removed Poonam Yadav off the last ball of the Indian innings and giving the West Indies a 1-0 lead in the 3-match series.
