Key events
James Wallace
Righto. Taha’s report will be along soon but my work here is done. Thanks for your company and join us for plenty more World Cup and Test cricket OBOs this week. Goodnight!
India take the win and the healthy net run rate to get their tournament off to a flier.
Harmanpreet Kaur says she is “very happy”:
Thank you so much to all the fans who came out to support us today, we are so grateful. Whenever we need a performance, Smriti and Deepti are always there for us to push us forward.
It was a good pitch. We were under pressure in the Powerplay but my partnership with Smriti got us back in control. I would love to send Richa Ghosh in from the first ball but we are very happy with how she is executing her role at the end.
Every game is important. We are very happy with this start, we know that net run-rate might help us towards the end of the group games.”
Pakistan captain Fatima Sana speaks:
We are very disappointed with the batting performance. We’ve got to improve quickly because there is still a long way to go in the tournament. We gave away a few too many runs too, it really cost us having to bring a fielder in at the end. The left and right-hand batters slowed us down a bit but we are a young team, we are getting used to these situations.
Catches win matches… unfortunately it was senior players dropping catches and we need to get better. That cost us the match.
Deepti Sharma is Player of the Match… I mean, she took 5-10 for crying out loud!
I am very grateful, but all credit goes to the team. The pitch was turning a bit, so varying my pace was very important. I had belief in myself to bowl a bit slower through the air and backing myself to get the ball in the right area.
It’s been an amazing crowd, it’s so great to have the support here. I also just want to mention Smriti’s innings and the partnership with Harmanpreet that got us into a good position. I wasn’t worried by not taking wickets. I always back myself to step up and take wickets for the team when they need me.”
India win by 64 runs!
Deepti Sharma take a bow! She gets her third wicket of the over to wrap up the match and end with a five wicket haul!
WICKET! Tasmia Rubab c Rodrigues b Sharma 0 (Pakistan 105-9)
Rinse and Repeat! Sharma has another and India are now just one wicket away!
WICKET! Aliya Riaz c Rodrigues b Sharma 18 (Pakistan 105-8)
A swipe to leg goes straight down the throat of Rodrigues on the deep square boundary.
15th over: Pakistan 104-7 (Riaz 18, Sandhu 3) Aliya Riaz opens the shoulders to Shafali Verma, bunting four over the covers and scampering three to midwicket.
15th over: Pakistan 92-7 (Riaz 9, Sandhu 1) Pakistan need 79 from 30 balls. It’s now or never… and more likely the latter.
WICKET! Rameen Shamim c Patil b Shree Charani 4 (Pakistan 91-7)
Charani into her third over and she picks up third wicket of the match, Patil haring round at backward point and taking a sharp chance.
14th over: Pakistan 89-6 (Riaz 8, Shamim 3) There’s a looooong delay as the DRS for an LBW for Shafali to Riaz is checked. The batter actually attempted a run as the Indian players were appealing and should have been run out by Richa Ghosh who duly missed from point blank range with her under arm throw! Ghosh’s blushes aren’t spared, it’s not out LBW as the third ump cannot ascertain whether it was bat or pad first.
13th over: Pakistan 83-6 (Riaz 4, Shamim 1) Pakistan need 88 runs from 42 balls with four wickets left. I know where my money is.
WICKET! Natalia Pervaiz c Kaur b Shree Charani 7 (Pakistan 79-6)
Gone! A simple catch to Harmanpreet at short cover, Pakistan are falling in a heap at Edgbaston.
12th over: Pakistan 79-5 (Pervaiz 9, Riaz 1) Wickets falling and run rate rising. There’s loud India support booming out all the time at Edgbaston, they were tested at times but are coming through this contest in style now.
WICKET! Fatima Sana c Mandhana b Shafali Verma 0 (Pakistan 75-5)
Sana plinks a simple catch to depart for a duck, this game is only headed one way now.
11th over: Pakistan 75-4 (Pervaiz 5, Sana 0) Three runs off the over and the pivotal wicket, India well in the ascendancy at Edgbaston now.
WICKET! Muneeba Ali run out (Deepti Sharma) 41 (Pakistan 75-4)
Muneeba is the key wicket… and she’s run out! That woman Deepti Sharma is dead eyed at backward point, she throws down the stumps with Muneeba short of her ground! Big moment in the game, I think that goes down as Pervaiz’s error as she called her partner through.
10th over: Pakistan 72-3 (Ali 39, Pervaiz 4) Charani returns for her second, Muneeba Ali keeps Pakistan ticking with a well timed clip through leg for four. Sensible batting and good running makes it nine off the over in total. Ten overs done, Pakistan need 98 off 60.
9th over: Pakistan 62-3 (Ali 30, Pervaiz 3) Deepti Sharma has turned this game, she nearly picks up Pervaiz with a tight LBW call that remains not out on umpires call, Harmanpreet thought she had the wicket after watching the DRS review and so did half the crows, the width of a gnat’s eyebrow saves Pervaiz. Just three off the over, the run rate heading up towards tens.
8th over: Pakistan 59-3 (Ali 29, Pervaiz 1) Natalia Pervaiz is the new batter. Pakistan need a partnership, more broadly they need 112 from 72 balls.
WICKET! Saira Jabeen c Kaur b Shree Charani 2 (India 58-3)
India roar back into the match, a leading edge from Saira Jabeen is swallowed at short cover by the India skipper.
7th over: Pakistan 55-2 (Ali 27, Jabeen 1) Saira Jabeen is the new batter, she’s off the mark first ball with a clip to square leg.
WICKET! Ayesha Zafar c Mandhana b Sharma 12 (Pakistan 53-2)
Deepti Sharma does the business again, Zafar sweeping straight to Mandhana at fine leg.
6th over: Pakistan 52-1 (Ali 25, Zafar 12) Reddy comes back for her second over, that dropped chance no doubt still on her mind. She starts with a wide and is then chipped over midwicket for four by Zafar. Four more! Wide of off stump and Zafar throws her hands at it, the ball whistling away past point. Top batting, Zafar then rotates strike with a quick single dropped into the leg side. Muneeba returns the single and Zafar pulls two more to end the Powerplay, Pakistan’s best ever against India in a WT20I!
5th over: Pakistan 39-1 (Ali 24, Zafar 1) Ayeesha Zafar in at first drop. She sweeps her first ball from Sharma to get off the mark with a single.
WICKET! Gull Feroza c Fulmali b Sharma 12 (Pakistan 38-1)
The pressure of three dot balls in a row… Deepti Sharma tightens things up and then picks up Feroza, the reverse-sweep straight to the fielder. India needed that.
4th over: Pakistan 37-0 (Feroza 12, Ali 23) Twelve off the over and a dropped catch! India struggling here, Arundhati Reddy makes a complete Horlicks (other bedtime drinks are available) of a chance in the ring. Feroza pulls and Muneeba sweeps, a boundary to each.
3rd over: Pakistan 25-0 (Feroza 7, Ali 16) Kranti Gaud comes on with her medium pacers, Muneeba Ali doesn’t need to have a look, she’s straight into a scoop over short fine for four runs! Feroza cuts for four after a single and there are more runs for Pakistan with a Muneeba pull to the deep square fence. Fourteen off the over! Pakistan right in this game after three overs of the chase.
2nd over: Pakistan 11-0 (Feroza 2, Ali 7) Shreyanka Patil shares the new ball. Drop! Ghosh fumbles an edge behind the stumps off Muneeba Ali, a sharp chance but it goes begging! Ghosh has now missed two chances inside the first two overs. A good over for India otherwise, just three runs off it.
1st over: Pakistan 8-0 (Feroza 1, Ali 6) Gull Feroza and Muneeba Ali open up, Arundhati Reddy starts with the ball for India. Four off the first ball! Wide of off stump and cut away by Ali to the point boundary. A single brings Feroza on strike. A leg side stumping chance goes begging as the batter topples over but Ghosh couldn’t gather cleanly. That’s a blot on Ghosh’s copybook after that sparkling innings with the bat.
Here come the Pakistan openers for the run chase, there are no demons in the wicket, a couple of decent partnerships should see them run this close.
India score 170-6
At 110-4 in the fifteenth over India were struggling to get away, enter Richa Ghosh with a pulsating 34 off 17 balls to get her side a commanding score on the board. Smriti Mandhana anchored the innings with 68 off 44 balls and Harmanpreet chipped in with with a run a ball 36. Over to Pakistan for the chase in a few minutes.
WICKET! Richa Ghosh b Fatima Sana 34 (India 168-6)
Sana bowls Ghosh with the penultimate ball of the innings but the damage has been done.
Final over, to be bowled by Pakistan captain Fatima Sana. Ghosh sweeps a full toss for four and Sana loses her cool momentarily, spearing down five wides and then another wide down the leg side. Ghosh goes over the infield to pick up two, all the momentum is with India now and it’s all a bit wheels off for Pakistan.
19th over: India 155-5 (Ghosh 28, Sharma 11) Tasmia Rubab goes too straight and Deepti Sharma swivels away into the leg side for four. A single brings Richa Ghosh on strike. Shot! Ghosh picks up four over extra cover and then… here we go – SIX! Ghosh goes big over long on, slices behind square for four more and then backs away to flat bat down the ground for another boundary! 23 runs off the over, Richa Ghosh playing a remarkable cameo!
18th over: India 132-5 (Ghosh 10, Sharma 6) Nashra Sandhu rattles through an excellent over, just three runs off it! Proper cat and mouse stuff in Birmingham… oh there’s an over rate penalty for Pakistan and they have to bring a fielder inside the ring for the next.