India Overcome Bug Invasion to Sail to Chilly Victory Over Pakistan in Women’s Cricket World Cup
The seam bowler Goud and the spinner Deepti Sharma claimed three wickets each as the Indian side defeated their opponents by 88 runs in their Women’s World Cup match, which began similar to recent fixtures between the men’s national sides without a handshake from the captains and then featured a disputed run-out of a Pakistan opener.
India’s captain, Harmanpreet Kaur, did not shake hands with Pakistan’s Fatima Sana during the toss and the teams walked off without post-match pleasantries after the contest amidst diplomatic strains between the two south Asian neighbours.
The captains at the recent men’s Asia Cup in the United Arab Emirates similarly avoided handshakes at matches between the two rivals. India has accused their neighbor of having involvement in attacks on tourists that killed dozens.
Game Overview
India lost the toss, they were dismissed for 247 in their allotted overs. Their openers, Rawal and the star batter Smriti Mandhana, shared 48 runs for the opening stand before the bowler had her lbw for a 32-ball 23. She made 31 runs before being bowled by spinner Iqbal. The captain scored 19 runs before edging behind off Diana Baig.
Deol was the top scorer for the team with 46 runs and Ghosh made a quick-fire 35 not out to boost their team to a competitive total.
Jemimah Rodrigues (32), Sharma (25) and Sneh Rana (20) all made valuable contributions, while Baig took four for 69 for Pakistan and the duo had two wickets apiece. Play was stopped for a quarter-hour because bugs were troubling the players.
Pakistan Batting
The Pakistani team were bowled out for 159 runs in 43 overs. Sole fifty of the match in Colombo came from Sidra Amin, who made 81 runs.
The opening wicket was lost in a controversial fashion when the opener Ali was given out run out. She had placed her bat after getting back, having moved forward to play a shot. Her bat was then seen to be lifted when an India throw hit the stumps. The captain argued with the fourth umpire that the player was not attempting a run but the ruling was upheld.
Her 106-ball innings included a maximum and nine boundaries. The seamer took three wickets for 20 runs and Sharma finished with 3/45.
