Another Women’s T20 World Cup and another victory for India over the Pakistan team. Just how often had you read that before?
Doesn’t matter. For the narrative didn’t change in 2023, despite a great fight shown by Pakistan, who batted first.
Though, truth be told, the women in blue have taken charge in their T20 world cup opener against the women in green. Team Pakistan batted admirably enough to give the Indian team a respectable score of 153 runs.
Harman and the company were ready to chase down the second-highest T20 total in the WT20I World Cup history. Jemimah Rodrigues came up and hit an undefeated 53 to lead India to victory, much like Virat Kohli did in the 2022 T20 World Cup. She was well supported by her fellow teammates Shafali Verma and Richa Ghosh, who recently lifted the Under-19 T20 World Cup.
The Anchor- Jemimah Rodrigues
Looking at the fact that Jemimah wasn’t picked up for the last T20 World Cup as she wasn’t having runs under her belt, her 53-run knock has shown how important she is in the middle order for the team. Jemimah had a terrific outing with the bat against the Bangladesh Women’s team in the warm-up game, scoring 41 runs off just 27 deliveries. After Shefali’s wicket, someone was needed to hold one end and that’s what Jemi did. Anchoring the innings alongside Harman and Richa, she indeed played an important role in this victory.
The powerhouse of the Indian team- Richa Ghosh and Shafali Verma
Richa Ghosh and Shafali Verma, the under-19 World Cup champions, are famous for their savage striking abilities. Shafali and Richa sped up the chase at the appropriate moments by scoring 33 runs off just 25 deliveries and 31 runs off just 20 respectively. The Indian team will not have any trouble chasing totals like these, with these two in the mix.
Given her reputation for converting powerplay opportunities with lofted shots, Shafali Verma is ideally positioned at the top in the Indian team. Richa Ghosh, on the other hand, proved yesterday with her cut shots that she possesses all the power necessary to destroy the bowlers later in the innings.
Richa Ghosh, it ought to be remembered, had scored 91 runs in the warm-up game against Bangladesh off just 56 deliveries, including nine sixes and three fours. Therefore, having her on the team as a power hitter makes the middle order stronger and more equipped to go for huge targets or post some huge totals.
Bismah Maroof, the captain of Pakistan, and the youngster Ayesha Naseem played excellently, with Bismah anchoring the innings and Ayesha destroying the Indian bowlers in the last overs. However, Pakistan was never winning the game with the way Indian team set up this chase.
With a win in the opener in the Women’s T20 World Cup, the girls sporting blue will look to continue the momentum throughout the tournament.
The team’s following match is scheduled for February 15 against the West Indies.
