‌INDW vs PAKW | Reddy three-fer and reshuffled batting dent arch-rivals as India stay alive

Arijit Kundu

ByArijit Kundu, SportsCafe Editor

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India bounce back after a loss against New Zealand by chasing 106-run target with six wickets in hand. Arundathi Reddy’s three-fer and Shreyanka Patil’s couple of wickets was followed by Shafali Verma’s composure and Harmanpreet Kaur’s chase as India secured crucial points in a nailbiter.

PAK-W: 105/8 [Dar: 28, Muneeba: 17; Reddy: 3/19] lost to IND-W: 108/4  Shafali: 32, Harmanpreet: 29*; Sana: 2/23] by six wickets.

The mounting pressure increased after the toss went against India in an arch-rivals clash following a defeat to New Zealand in their tournament opener. However, the bowlers took up the challenge of bowling in scorching Sharjah conditions with Renuka Singh Thakur drawing the first blood by cleaning up Gull Feroza in the first over. The early introduction of spin yielded a cherry on the top for the Women in Blue as Deepti Sharma sent Sidra Amin packing to wrap up a 29-run powerplay. Arundhati Reddy and Shreyanka Patil followed it up by removing Omaima Sohail and Muneeba Ali conceding just 12 runs in the next four overs. Finally, a 32-ball boundary drought ended with Fatima Sana taking down Asha Sobhana for back-to-back fours in the 14th over before getting out in the next delivery. With the score reflecting 70/5 in 14 overs, Nida Dar anchored the innings till the end as the Women in Green could add just a couple of more fours in the innings before ending at 105/8 in 20 overs.

In response, Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma got off to a slow start as they faced trouble against the slow nature of the strip. The southpaw sucumbed to dot ball pressure in the fifth over, resulting in just 25 runs in the powerplay. Jemimah Rodrigues was promoted at No. 3 over Harmanpreet Kaur and the former kept milking for singles and doubles with Verma’s hand settling as per the condition’s demands. The pair accumulated 43 runs together before Verma getting outfoxed in the 12th over with the score 62/2. Jemimah constantly swept the balls to rotate the strike with Harman against the spinners before Fatima Sana brought herself out with the ball to induce back-to-back wickets in the form of Jemimmah and Richa Ghosh. The tables turned with this brilliant over as the Women in Blue required 22 to win from the last four overs. However, composed Deepti Sharma and Harmanpreet extracted 18 runs in the next two overs to leave four runs behind. After a couple of singles, the Indian skipper trudged off the field due to an unprecedented injury before Sajeevan Sajana hit the winning runs with seven balls to spare.



Injured

Back

Injury concern

Down the track

In the chase

What a bowler

2 wickets

On roll

Great spell

Career best

Good catch

 

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