The Indian women’s team have got off to an excellent start in the ongoing eighth edition of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023, as they register a thumping 7-wicket victory against arch-rivals Pakistan in their opening match.
Advertisement
En route the target of 150 runs, the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side nailed the chase with an Over to spare, and not only registered their highest-ever run chase in T20 World Cup history, but also the second-highest by any team overall in the same.
The two-paced nature of the surface did make the batters’ life difficult against the spinners, and India were in a spot of bother having lost their skipper Harmanpreet, with 55 more runs required off the final six Overs.
ALSO READ: Who won INDW vs PAKW Man of the Match in Women’s T20 World Cup 2023?
However, Jemimah Rodrigues (53* off 38), whose bat has not done much talking of-late, stitched a wonderful half-century stand off mere 31 deliveries for the fourth wicket alongside the teenage sensation Richa Ghosh (31* off 20), and hit the winning boundary to see her side over the line.
Virat Kohli rejoices on Indian women team’s record run-chase
Former team India captain Virat Kohli took a lot of pride in the Indian women team’s stellar run-chase under pressure, and took to his social media handle to express his happiness on the same.
He further added that the way they have been performing in each ICC tournament, it will inspire the upcoming generation of girls to take up the sport and lift women’s Cricket to where it deservedly belongs.
Earlier, the pair of skipper Bismah Maroof (68* off 55) and the 18-year-old power-hitter Ayesha Naseem (43* off 25) helped Pakistan register not only their highest-ever total against India (149/4) in T20Is, but also in the T20 World Cup history as well.
The duo stitched together a scintillating 81-run stand for the fifth wicket, and scored as many as 58 runs of the final five Overs, with Ayesha doing much of the damage.
