AGENCY
CAPE TOWN: Experienced batter Jemimah Rodrigues produced a master class of an innings as she and youngster Richa Ghosh held their nerves under pressure to guide India to a seven-wicket win over arch-rivals Pakistan in their opening match of the Women’s T20 World Cup here on Sunday.
Jemimah (53 not out off 38 balls) and Richa (31 not out off 20 balls) stitched 58 runs for the unconquered fourth wicket as India chased down a challenging target of 150 with six balls to spare.
Jemimah struck eight boundaries while Richa hit five fours during their unbeaten knocks as India reached 151 for 3 in 19 overs, their highest successful chase in the T20 World Cup.
Shafali Verma (33 off 25 balls) and Yastika Bhatia (17) gave a good start to the Indian run chase, stitching 38 runs in 5.3 overs. The powerplay overs yielded 43 runs for one wicket.
Shafali, who successfully reviewed a LBW decision in the fourth over, was going strong as she took the attack to the opposition bowlers. But her dismissal in the 10th over with Sidra Ameen taking a fine catch near the boundary off the bowling of Nashra Sandhu set India on the back-foot.
One-down Jemimah survived a close stumping call as India reached 67 for 2 at the halfway mark with the experienced captain Harmanpreet Kaur having arrived at the crease.
Harmanpreet struck a boundary from the third delivery she faced and repeated it in the same 11th over to swell the Indian total. But she was guilty of trying to slog-sweep across the line and against the turn off the bowling of Fatima Sana.
The top edge was easily taken by Bismah Maroof as India were reduced to 93 for 3 in 13.3 overs.
India needed 83 runs from the last 10 overs and despite the fall of crucial wickets, the good start and batting depth kept India in the hunt. But run rate kept climbing for India as they needed 47 from the last five overs.
With Jemimah and new batter Richa getting the boundaries often, the equation became 28 runs from three overs.
Richa turned the match on its head as she hit three successive boundaries in the first three balls of the 18th over bowled by Aiman Anwer. Ghosh was smart enough to send two widish deliveries to the fence.
Needing 14 from the last two overs, Jemimah struck three fours in the penultimate over to end the match in a jiffy.
