The Indian women’s cricket team kicked off its T20 World Cup campaign with a big 64-run win over Pakistan. Opting to bat first, the Women in Blue registered a big total of 170 on the board. They restricted Pakistan to a score of 106 to register a big win. Aakash Chopra hailed the Indian women’s team following its win and said that Pakistan weren’t good enough for the current ODI World Cup champions.
“Pakistan, not good enough. Whether it’s the boys or the girls, the stories are actually always similar. This time, the Indian girls showed once again that the gulf between the two teams is massive. We won the match easily by 64 runs and have made the net run rate very good. It means we made Pakistan lick dust once again,” Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
“Shafali Verma came and hit a six off the first ball, and it reminded me of 2011. Viru (Virender Sehwag), who has been her idol, had hit a first-ball four in every match in that campaign. She has hit a six here. I don’t know whether she will be able to hit a six off the first ball in every match. However, she gave a start like that, but then she got dismissed,” he added.
Smriti Mandhana shone with bat
Smriti Mandhana shone with the bat and scored 68 off just 44 balls. Batting with a strike rate of 154.55, Mandhana slammed 2 sixes and 9 fours in her knock. She shared 91 runs for the third wicket with Harmanpreet Kaur.
Harmanpreet scored 36 off 35 balls. She is now India’s highest run-scorer in the history of T20 World Cup. Richa Ghosh’s 34-run blitz off just 17 balls took India to the 170-run mark.
Pakistan were never in contention to chase down the big target and they were bowled out for 106. Deepti Sharma, the player of the match, was India’s star performer with the ball and she took a five-fer. Shree Charani assisted the senior spinner with a three-fer.
India, who are aiming to win their maiden T20 World Cup trophy, sit in the second position with 2 points at an NRR of +3.200. Australia top the Group A points table. India will face Netherlands in their next game on Wednesday (June 17).
Disclaimer: This article summarizes a report by Aakash Chopra. While Times Now has verified the public data presented, the interpretations of ‘intent’ remain those of the creator.
