Indian Women's Team Overcome Insect Plague to Sail to Chilly Victory Over Pakistan in Women's World Cup
Pace bowler Kranti Goud and the spinner Sharma claimed three scalps apiece as India defeated Pakistan by a substantial margin in their World Cup match, starting similar to recent fixtures between the men’s national sides with no handshake from the captains and later included a controversial run-out of a Pakistan opener.
The Indian captain, Harmanpreet Kaur, did not shake hands with Sana during the toss and the squads departed without greeting each other after the contest amid political tensions between the two south Asian neighbours.
The captains at the recent men’s Asia Cup in the UAE similarly avoided handshakes at games between the two rivals. Indian authorities have alleged their neighbor of being involved in tourist assaults that claimed many lives.
Game Overview
Losing the toss, India were all out for 247 in their allotted overs. The opening pair, Pratika Rawal and star player Smriti Mandhana, put on 48 runs for the first wicket before the bowler had Mandhana leg before wicket for a 23 off 32. She made 31 runs before she was bowled by spinner Iqbal. The captain scored 19 runs before edging behind off Baig.
Deol was the top scorer for the team with 46 and Ghosh made a quick-fire 35 not out to boost their side to a respectable score.
Jemimah Rodrigues (32), Sharma (25) and Sneh Rana (20) all made useful runs, while Diana took four for 69 for the opposition and the duo had two wickets each. The match was stopped for 15 minutes because bugs were troubling the players.
Pakistan Batting
The Pakistani team were bowled out for 159 runs in 43 overs. The only half-century of the match in Colombo came from Sidra Amin, who made 81.
Pakistan’s first wicket was lost in a confusing manner when the opening batter Ali was adjudged run out. She had placed her bat after returning to her crease, having moved forward to play a shot. The bat was then seen to be lifted when an throw struck the wickets. The captain protested to the fourth umpire that the batter was not attempting a run but the ruling was upheld.
Her innings of 106 balls included a six and nine boundaries. The seamer took three wickets for 20 runs and the spinner returned 3/45.
