It was a cracker of a contest at Feroz Shah Kotla on
Saturday when the arch rivals India and Pakistan faced off against each other
in the ICC Women’s World T20. Sana Mir, the Pakistani skipper won the toss and
put the hosts to bat first. Was it the pitch or was it the India-Pakistan match
pressure that swallowed the otherwise strong Indian batting line-up? India eves
managed to post a humble 96-7 in 20 overs, thanks to some aggressive batting
from Veda Krishnamurthy (24 runs off 19 balls). At one stage, they were found
struggling at 7-2 in the first six overs. Singles were hard to come and the
Indian batters, including the skipper Mithali Raj, could not find gaps. Though the
visitors bowled well and fielded brilliantly, India women looked slightly off-colour.
Pakistan started off well and it seemed that it would be a
cake walk for them. Sidra Ameen top scored with 26 runs in as many balls. After
the initial onslaught by the Pakistan women, the Indian bowlers pulled up their
socks and ran through the middle order with some fantastic bowling accompanied
by terrific fielding. The catch at covers by Raj and the couple of run outs
turned the game around with Pakistan wanting 20 runs off 24 balls. When the
Indian dug out was breathing a sigh of relief, the play was interrupted by the
unwelcomed rain. The ground was cleared and so were India’s hopes of winning
the match. As per the par score (D/L method), Pakistan was marginally ahead by
2 runs. The play never resumed and the visitors were jumping with joy as they
clinched this nail biting contest against their arch rivals.
India still leads the Group B table and will play its next
match against England on Tuesday at Dharamsala.
Brief Scores: India Women 96-7 in 20 overs (V Krishnamurthy 24, M Raj 16, H Kaur 16; A Amin 1-9, A Iqbal 1-13) lost to Pakistan Women 77-6 in 16 overs (S Ameen 26, N Khan 14; H Kaur 1-9, J Goswami 1-14) by 2 runs as per the D/L method
source:www.icc-cricket.com
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