ICC Women's WC | Smriti Mandhana ton guides India to victory against Windies

India won the toss and opted to field first, and Indian skipper Mithali Raj cited the initial moisture in the pitch as the reason for the team to bowl first. West Indies started the proceedings cautiously initially, but Hayley Matthews later picked up the pace to take them to 29-0 at the end of six overs. However, Raj brought in left-arm orthodox spinner Ekta Bisht into the attack, and the change did wonders for the team as Bisht scalped her first wicket on her very first delivery.

The Windies side, however, rebuilt their innings slowly to 69 by the 19th over but once again faltered against the off-spin of Deepti Sharma to lose their second wicket - Matthews lost out on a well-deserved fifty as she hit the ball back to the bowler. The Indian team followed it up with a brilliant fielding effort that resulted in a run-out in the 20th over to make it 70/3.

Defending the total, Shamilia Connell gave the Windies the perfect start by dismissing the in-form Punam Raut for a duck in the very first over. India lost their second wicket soon after when Deepti Sharma was bowled out by Windies skipper Stafanie Taylor with just 33 runs on the board. But, Smriti Mandhana kept firing at the other end to keep India in a commanding position in the match. Indian skipper Mithali Raj then came out onto the field and complemented Mandhana brilliantly to weave a 108-run partnership that guided the Indian innings to a score of 141-2 in 33.1 overs.