All-rounders Sneh Rana and Pooja Vastrakar power team India to start their World Cup campaign on a victorious note. Smriti Mandhana also chipped in with a delightful 52 (78) and the Indian bowlers led by Jhulan Goswami did a great job to restrict Pakistan to 137 in 43 overs. Left-arm spinner Rajeshwari Gayakwad (4-31 in 10 overs) was the pick of the bowlers for India and received good support from Goswami and Rana, who struck with two wickets apiece.
Having won the toss, India’s Mithali Raj decided to bat first. It took courage and determination from the all-rounders Sneh Rana and Pooja Vastrakar to bail India out from a fragile situation of 114-6 in 33.1 overs to finally taking the team total to 244-7 in 50 overs.
Earlier, Pakistani bowlers looked right on top, never letting Indian batters to settle down till after the 34th over. Shafali Verma continued with her reckless style and poor form and got out for a 0 yet another time, when the total score on board was just four runs. It’s time that the Indian think tank does something about it as losing early wickets in every match is not really helping the side and it puts extra pressure on the other batters.
Best figures for 🇮🇳 Rajeshwari Gayakwad in ODIs-
5/15 vs 🇳🇿NZ, 2017
4/18 vs 🇮🇪IRE, 2017
4/21 vs 🌴WI, 2016
4/31 vs 🇵🇰PAK, today** 👈
4/34 vs 🌴WI, 2016
4/42 vs 🏴ENG, 2014#CWC22 #INDvPAK 📸ICC/Getty pic.twitter.com/fMTQ6KGuKz— Female Cricket #CWC22 (@imfemalecricket) March 6, 2022
Mandhana somehow held her nerves and with help of Deepti Sharma, they stitched a good partnership of 92 runs before Sharma (40 runs off 57 balls) was clean bowled by left-arm spinner Nashra Sandhu in the 22nd over. India lost the next four wickets for just 18 runs. Rana and Vastrakar came out in the middle to save India’s sinking ship. While Rana plundered an unbeaten 53 off 48 balls, Vastrakar muscled 67 off 59 balls to steer India past the 240-run mark.
While chasing 245, Pakistani batters never looked comfortable against Indian bowling at any stage of their innings. Sidra Amin was the only one to have touched an individual score of 30 but with a strike rate of under 50. India ripped Pakistan apart with superb bowling by Goswami (especially in her second spell) who took 2-26 in her spell of 10 overs. Gayakwad stood out with her figures of 4-31 in 10 overs. World Cup debutant Meghna Singh picked up her first wicket which incidentally was the last wicket to fall for Pakistan. Rana continued her good form in bowling taking 2-27 in nine overs.
India start their World Cup campaign on a winning note! #CWC22 #INDvPAK pic.twitter.com/Yl71cSrPZ5
— Female Cricket #CWC22 (@imfemalecricket) March 6, 2022
Take Home for India – Good start to the tournament!! Having all all rounders contribute is a good sign!!
Take Home for Pakistan – Batters need to contribute.
Minoti Desai is a former India Test and ODI cricketer. She is also the author of the book “She The Cricketer”. This is an exclusive Column by Minoti Desai for FemaleCricket.com where she would express her thoughts around Team India’s campaign for the Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022
Minoti Desai is a former India Test and ODI cricketer. She is also the author of the book “She The Cricketer”
Besides Shefali, when did we last hear Harmanpreet perform? Have to look at that too…Of late, Sneh Rana is much in the news with her contributiins and it augurs well. As rightly pointed out the allrounders are bailing out India in recent times.
Very true and precise report. It tells us all there is to know.
MDesai