Indian women’s team on Saturday lost to arch rivals Pakistan by two runs via Duckworth-Lewis method in a rain-affected group league encounter of the ICC World T20, here at Feroz Shah Kotla ground.
Batting first, India managed a paltry 96 for seven in 20 overs with Veda Krishnamurthy making 24. In reply, Pakistan were 77 for six in 16 overs when steady showers halted proceedings. The D/L par score at that point of time was 75 and thus Pakistan were two runs ahead of the hosts at that point of time. Sidra Ameen scored 26 for Pakistan.
Indian batswomen’s struggle can be gauged from the fact that they scored just seven runs for the loss of two wickets in the six overs of Powerplay.
Pakistan skipper Sana Mir gave the new ball to Anam Amin (1/9), who picked up four wickets against West Indies in the last match and the left-arm spinner lived upto her skipper s expectations when she dismissed opener VR Vanitha in her second and innings’ third over caught at mid-wicket Asmavia Iqbal. Right-arm pacer Iqbal then had Smriti Mandhana leg before in the next over to reduce the hosts to 5 for 2.
In a real spot of bother, captain Mithali Raj (16 off 35) and Harmanpreet Kaur (16 off 29) tried their best to stabilise the innings but failed to get going scoring only 29 runs off 47 balls to increase the pressure on the batswomen, who followed them. Barring the lone boundary, it was a struggle
for Mithali in the middle and it came to an end in the 12th over when, in trying to break the shackles, she was holed out by Sidra Ameen at midwicket off Nida Dar’s bowling.
Harmanpreet too followed suit soon in search of quick runs, caught by Sidra Ameen at long-off off Sadia Yousuf s bowling. Veda Krishnamurthy, who came after the dismissal of Mithali, however looked in great nick and scored quick 24 off 19 balls with the help of three fours to give some momentum to the Indian innings.
Brief Scores: India 96/7 (Krishnamurthy 24, Amin 1/9 in 4 overs); Pakistan 77/6 in 16 overs (D/L Par score 75)(Sidra Ameen 26). Pakistan won by 2 runs.