India ease to victory over Pakistan to boost T20 World Cup hopes

Harmanpreet Kaur’s India needed a win after the loss to New Zealand in their opening game, and they got exactly that against neighbours Pakistan, who were slightly off the boil at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

Arundhati Reddy (3/19) and Shreyanka Patil (2/12) starred with the ball as a rebalanced India line-up kept Pakistan tied down in the first innings, for whom Nida Dar top-scored with 28 from 34.

And, faced with a modest target of 106 to win, India eased to victory, aided by an excellent 32 from 35 by Shafali Verma and Harmanpreet Kaur’s 29 from 24, although the skipper was forced to retire hurt on the verge of victory.

How India wrapped up win

India took few risks in their batting effort, keeping it steady through the Powerplay in search of their target of 106.

Smriti Mandhana was the one wicket to fall inside the first six overs, with the opener going for 7 off 16, lured into a false shot off Sadia Iqbal.

But Shafali Verma and Jemimah Rodrigues, promoted to No 3, built a solid base for India after the bowlers had restricted Pakistan to 105/8.

Verma looked to accelerate after the drinks break and her attacking intent proved her undoing as she departed for 32 from 35 balls, having done much of the work to break the back of the chase.

Harmanpreet Kaur joined Rodrigues out in the middle and the pair ticked things over to make the game safe, although Pakistan captain Fatima Sana did her best to keep things alive with two wickets in two balls, getting Rodrigues (23 from 28) and Richa Ghosh (0 from 1) caught behind.

There was moment of concern late on for India when Kaur appeared to pick up an injury trying to avoid a stumping and was forced to retire hurt on 29* from 24 balls.

But victory came with seven balls to spare as new batter Sajeevan Sajana found the boundary with her first delivery.

THE STORY OF THE FIRST INNINGS

Earlier, Pakistan won the toss and opted to bat first in front of a big crowd at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, with each team making a change from their opening game, with the captains saying that both line-up alterations were enforced due to injury.

Pakistan’s Diana Baig continues to undergo treatment and was replaced by Aroob Shah, while Pooja Vastrakar was replaced by Sajeevan Sajana for India in a move that also lengthened the batting.

And it was India who had the better of proceedings early in the match.

Renuka Singh provided a moment of magic in the first over to send Gull Feroza back to the dugout without having troubled the scorers.

And Deepti Sharma ensured the Powerplay went India’s way when she cleaned up Sidra Amin (8/11), leaving Pakistan on 29/2 after six overs, with Muneeba Ali the only batter to look relatively comfortable.

Omaima Sohail’s stay in the middle was short-lived as she was caught off Arundhati Reddy for 3 (6), and India were jubilant when they prized out Muneeba Ali (17 from 26), with the opener looking to up the ante and being stumped off Shreyanka Patil.

The introduction of Pakistan captain, coming in at No 7, injected some life into the innings as she struck two boundaries in a promising cameo of 13 from 8, with her stay in the middle coming to an abrupt end when she was superbly caught by Ghosh off the bowling of Asha Sobhana.

But Pakistan managed to get to something resembling a competitive total thanks to Nida Dar (28 from 24) and Syeda Aroob Shah (14* from 17).

The two teams came into the game in contrasting form.

While Fatima Sana’s heroics inspired Pakistan to a famous win over Asian champions Sri Lanka in their opener, Sophie Devine’s excellence consigned India to a 58-run loss, making this game even more significant for Kaur’s side.

Historically, India have an advantage of 12-3 over Pakistan in the format. In their previous meeting in the 2023 edition of the T20 World Cup, Jemimah Rodrigues’ attacking 53* sealed a seven-wicket win over the Women in Green.

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT

There were some concerns over the pace of India’s effort with the bat, given the possibility of importance of net run rate in the final Group A shake-up. The extended depth of India’s batting order thanks to the introduction of Sajeevan Sajana to the XI should have given the top order more security, and there seemed to be some discussion in the dugout over whether the chase should have sped up in the second half. But a win gets India back in the mix in Group A, with fixtures against Sri Lanka and Australia to come.

Pakistan will be disappointed that they didn’t click on the day, and will be eyeing big upsets in tricky fixtures against Australia and New Zealand in the remainder of their Group A schedule. The role of Fatima Sana will come into starker focus, with the captain again looking promising in a rapid cameo of 13 from just 8 balls, but coming in down at No 7 in the order. Sana did bowl out her full allocation at least, returning the pick of the figures with 2/23.

India’s victory leaves both teams on two points after two games in Group A, and the win means India now have a 13-3 advantage in head-to-head meetings between the two nations in the format.

INDIA: Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Suryakumar Yadav (capt), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Hardik Pandya, Riyan Parag, Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Mayank Yadav

BANGLADESH: Litton Das (wk), Najmul Hossain Shanto (capt), Parvez Hossain Emon, Towhid Hridoy, Mahmudullah, Jaker Ali, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Rishad Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Shoriful Islam