Indian Women's Team Overcome Insect Plague to Sail to Chilly Victory Over Pakistan in Women’s Cricket World Cup
Pace bowler Kranti Goud and spin specialist Sharma took three wickets each as the Indian side routed Pakistan by a substantial margin in their Women’s World Cup match, starting like recent ones between the men’s national sides with no handshake from the skippers and later included a disputed run-out of a Pakistan opener.
India’s captain, Harmanpreet Kaur, declined to shake hands with Pakistan’s Fatima Sana during the coin toss and the teams departed without greeting each other after the match amid diplomatic strains between the two neighboring nations.
Skippers at the men’s Asia Cup in the United Arab Emirates similarly avoided handshakes at matches between India and Pakistan. Indian authorities have alleged their neighbor of being involved in tourist assaults that killed dozens.
Match Summary
Losing the toss, they were all out for 247 in their allotted overs. The opening pair, Pratika Rawal and star player Smriti Mandhana, shared 48 for the first wicket before the bowler had Mandhana lbw for a 32-ball 23. She made 31 runs before she was bowled by the left-arm spinner Iqbal. Kaur scored 19 runs before edging behind off Diana Baig.
Deol top-scored for India with 46 runs and Richa Ghosh made a rapid 35 not out to boost their team to a competitive total.
Rodrigues (32), Deepti (25) and Rana (20) all made useful runs, while Diana took four for 69 for Pakistan and Iqbal and Sana had two wickets each. The match was halted for 15 minutes because insects were bothering the players.
Pakistan Batting
The Pakistani team were bowled out for 159 runs in 43 overs. Sole fifty of the game in Colombo came from Amin, who made 81 runs.
Pakistan’s first wicket was taken in a controversial fashion when the opening batter Ali was adjudged run out. She had grounded her bat after getting back, having moved forward to attempt a stroke. Her bat was then seen to be lifted when an throw hit the stumps. Sana protested to the fourth umpire that the player was not running but the ruling was upheld.
Amin’s innings of 106 balls included a six and nine boundaries. The seamer took three wickets for 20 runs and the spinner returned three for 45.
