Beating West Indies by 6 wickets, team India marked their victory in the Women’s T20 World Cup 2023 at Newlands Cricket Ground to be in the top 2 of Group B. Even though the West Indies put India under pressure by marking a target of 119, Harmanpreet Kaur and Richa Ghosh stunned with the bat to reach the target in 18.1 overs.
Earlier, West Indies won the toss and decided to bat first, but they lost their skipper Hayley Matthews earlier in the second over itself. Despite losing Hayley, they started well with the bat ruing the opportunity they had. Shemaine Camapbelle (42 off 40) and Stafanie Taylor (30 off 36) together added 73 runs, but the partnership was broken by Deepti Sharma. Then Chinelle Henry was run out by Smriti Mandhana.
Then Chedean Nation and Shabika Gajnabi looked to push the scoring a little bit but were unable to help the Windies to cross the 120-run mark. The loss of wickets at regular intervals pegged them back quite drastically.
Deepti Sharma was the pick of the bowlers for India by claiming three wickets. With the stunning performance, off-spinner Sharma became the first Indian to achieve 100 wickets in T20I. Renuka Singh and Pooja Vastrakar were also impressed with the ball, picking a wicket each. Together, they made the job quite easy for the Indian batters.
While chasing, India got off to a better start with Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma as they put up an opening stand of 32 off 21 balls. Scoring 28 runs in the first two overs from the pacers, India found it easy chasing. But when the spinners came into play, India started losing wickets. They quickly lost three wickets and came under pressure within seven overs.
Smriti Mandhana was dismissed by playing a rash shot and then Jemimah Rodrigues failed to carry her form to this game like the last one. Then after Shafali Verma went out of the game, West Indies looked way more settled in the game. But the skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and Richa Gosh steadied the boat for the side. Harmanpreet scored 33 off 42 balls and went out when the team was 4 runs away from victory. Then Richa Ghosh (44 off 32) finished it off with a boundary and showed how much she has matured as a cricketer to become the designated finisher of the Indian Women.
For West Indies, Karishma Ramharack claimed 2 wickets for 14 runs in her four overs. Hayley Matthews was also good with the ball but she left the field with injuries along with Stafanie Taylor.
It was another comfortable win for team India as they sealed their second victory in the group stage to become the top 2 of the points table. They won the second match by 6 wickets when 11 balls were spared.
West Indies is having lost 15 consecutive T20I games in a row now and their World Cup dreams now lie in balance with their second defeat in the tournament.
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