Women's T20 World Cup 2024: India edge past Pakistan in close chase

After a big defeat against New Zealand Women in their tournament opener, India Women comfortably beat Pakistan Women by six wickets. 

After winning the toss, Pakistan Women scored 105/8 in 20 overs. While India Women had to chase the target within 11.2 overs to make the run rate positive, they had no such ambition. They reached the target in 18.5 overs after losing four wickets. 

Two wickets in the disciplined powerplay

Pakistan Women lost two wickets in the powerplay and scored 29 runs. Renuka Singh bowled the opener Gull Feroza for a duck in the first over, while Deepti Sharma bowled Sidra Amin (8) in the fifth over. 

Reddy and Patil were stars in the first innings

Arundhati Reddy (3/19) took three wickets and Shreyanka Patil (2/12) picked up two wickets as the Pakistan batters had no strong answers. All the Indian bowlers picked up at least one wicket each. Only Nida Dar reached the 20-run mark as Pakistan Women managed to score only 105/8.  

A slow start for India

India Women started their chasing slowly. They scored 25/1 at the end of the powerplay where India didn’t hit a boundary. Sadia Iqbal took the wicket of Smriti Mandhana for seven runs. 

Lost three wickets in 22 balls

Indian batters continued their cautious batting but lost three wickets in 22 balls during the early second half of the chasing. After Omaima Sohail dismissed Shafali Verma, who scored 32 off 35 balls with the help of three fours, captain Fatima Sana took the wickets of Jemimah Rodrigues (23) and Richa Ghosh (0) in back-to-back deliveries. 

Captain controlled the successful chasing

Despite losing three wickets between the 12th and 16th overs, captain Harmanpreet Kaur controlled the chasing. Just before the end of the match, while India required two runs in eight balls, Kaur hurt herself to face a ball. While injured Kaur went to the pavilion on 29 off 24 balls (retired hurt), Sajeevan Sajana ended the game in the next ball with a four.