Commonwealth Games, Women's T20 tournament: India thrash Pakistan
The Indian women's cricket team finally opened its account in the 2022 Commonwealth Games (CWG) with a win over arch-rivals Pakistan. India successfully chased 100 in the Group A match that was reduced to 18 overs due to rain. Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana starred in the run-chase, while Sneh Rana and Radha Yadav took two wickets. Here are the key stats.
Pakistan lost Iram Javed early after they elected to bat first. However, Muneeba Ali and Bismah Maroof shared a 50-run stand to bolster Pakistan's innings. The Pakistanis faced a batting collapse thereafter. Sneh Rana and Radha Yadav took four wickets between them, bowling Pakistan out for 99. In response, Shafali and Smriti made it one-sided for the Women in Blue (102/2 in 11.4 overs).
At present, India and Pakistan don't compete in bilateral cricket series due to political tensions. The women's sides from these nations have not played any bilateral T20I series as of now. The two teams have met on 12 occasions across multi-lateral tournaments. India have improved their win-loss record against Pakistan to 10-2. They are unbeaten against Pakistan in the last five T20Is.
Off-spinner Sneh Rana was the pick of India's bowlers in the match. She took two wickets for just 15 runs in four overs. These are now her best bowling figures in T20 Internationals.
It was skipper Harmanpreet Kaur who led India's innings in the tournament opener against Australia. Against Pakistan, opener Smriti Mandhana played a match-winning knock. The senior batter slammed her 15th half-century in T20I cricket. Smriti gave a solid start to India, who were 61/1 after the powerplay. She added 44 of those runs off just 26 balls in this phase.
