Indian women crush Pakistan by 107 runs, begin campaign on high note

The Indian team thrashed archrivals Pakistan by 107 runs to begin their campaign in the ICC Womens World Cup on a rousing note here on Sunday the muchanticipated faceoff ending in a no contestOpting to bat after the coin landed in Indias favour inform opener Smriti Mandhana Sneh Rana and Pooja Vastrakar struck useful halfcenturies to help their team recover from an early wobble and post 244 for seven at the Bay OvalChasing a tricky target of 245 the Pakistan team fell way short of the mark and was all out for 137 in 43 overs losing its 11th straight game against neighbours India in the 50over formatLeftarm spinner Rajeshwari Gayakwad did the star turn with the ball returning with excellent figures of 431 after her full quota of 10 overs Seasoned pacer Jhulan Goswami bowled very well to finish the game with impressive figures of 229 while there were also two wickets for Rana 227 capping off her fine allround showTo start with however the Indians found themselves under pressure after opener Shafali Verma was dismissed for a duck in the third overA 92run stand between Mandhana 52 off 75 balls and Deepti Sharma 40 off 57 helped steady the shipHowever Pakistan came back strongly by claiming a flurry of wickets including the scalps of skipper Mithali Raj 9 and her deputy Haramanpreet Kaur 5It wasnt a good outing for Raj with the willow but by turning out in the India jersey on Sunday the veteran 39yearold became only the third cricketer after Sachin Tendulkar and Javed Miandad to appear in six World Cups and the first woman to achieve the featRaj though would take her cheap dismissal in her stride as her team achieved the result it sought After the early dismissal of Shafali the duo of Mandhana and Deepti got together to first steady the innings and then build a foundation for Rana and Vastrakar to take their team closer to 250Rana 53 not out and Vastrakar 67 shared a crucial 122run partnership the highest for the seventh wicket in ICC Womens World Cups to help boost the India total From the Pakistan point of view the stand between Rana and Vastrakar hit them hard as they were hoping to restrict India after reducing them to 114 for six at one pointMandhana and Deepti were dismissed within a few overs of each other Deepti missed a sweep and was bowled by Nashra Sundhu for 40 and Mandhana followed suit 13 balls later giving a return catch to Anam Amin The rest of the batters failed to build on the foundation laid by Mandhana and Deepti as the likes of Raj Kaur and Richa Ghosh fell in quick succession to leave their team in a spot of botherPakistan had their tails up at that stage of the game but batting in the lower order Rana and Vastrakar had other ideas and displayed immense grit to pull India out of trouble For Pakistan spinners Nida Dar 245 and Nashra Sandhu 236 snared two wickets eachIn reply Pakistan were precariously placed at 78 for five at the halfway point in their innings 167 runs away from a win India were rewarded for some tight bowling early on limiting Pakistan to just 26 for no loss at the end of the powerplayThe pressure got to the openers as Javeria Khan departed in the 11th over trying to take the aerial route After that the Indian spinners continued to keep a lid on the scoring with Deepti and Rana taking the important wickets of Pakistan skipper Bismah Maroof and Omaima Sohail respectivelyGoswami then got into the act dismissing the settled Sidra Ameen who was caught behind Jhulan struck again in her next over to remove Dar for 4 as Pakistan stared at a big defeatIt was pleasing to see Jhulan even after so many years running in hard and giving everything for her team This is Pakistans 15th defeat while chasing in the Womens World Cup gamesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for the dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the contents in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever