New Delhi: India defeated arch-rivals Pakistan by seven wickets in their opening match of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup. India chased down the 150-run target set by Pakistan in 19 overs with a score of 151/3. For India, Jemimah Rodrigues scored an unbeaten 53 and was adjudged the ‘Player of the Match’.
Rodrigues hit eight fours in his 38-ball innings. Richa Ghosh remained unbeaten on 31 runs. Shafali Verma (33), Yastika Bhatia (17) and skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (16) were the top scorers. For Pakistan, Nashra Sandhu took two wickets for 15 runs and Sadia Iqbal took one wicket for 25 runs. India will play their second match against the West Indies on February 15.
Earlier, Pakistan won the toss and decided to bat first. Captain Bismah Maroof played an unbeaten 68-run innings for the team. Maroof hit seven fours in his 55-ball innings. Aisha Naseem gave good support to the captain with an unbeaten 43 runs. Wicketkeeper-batsman Muniba Ali scored 12, Javeria Khan scored 8 and Sidra Amin scored 11 runs. Nida Dar also failed to open an account.
Nida Dar also failed to open an account. Pakistan scored 149 runs in 20 overs with the loss of four wickets. For India, Radha Yadav took two wickets for 21 runs in four overs, while one wicket each went to Deepti Sharma and Pooja Vastrakar. Deepti Sharma proved to be the most expensive by giving away 39 runs in four overs of her quota.