Buoyed by their hard earned six wicket win against arch-rivals Pakistan in the ongoing ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 at the Dubai International Stadium, the Harmanpreet Kaur will hope to keep up the winning momentum against Asian Champions Sri Lanka whom they next take on Wednesday, 9th October, 2024.  The grudge match comes at the back of India’s humiliating eight wicket loss to host Sri Lanka in the final of the Women’s Asia T20 Cup earlier this year and India’s bid to make it to the top two in Pool A in order to qualify for the semis.

Having achieved the winning target of 106 with seven balls to spare, whose foundation was set by the efforts of their bowlers Arundhati Reddy (3 for 19) and Shreyanka Patil (2 for 12) as the  Women in Blue logged in their maiden two points.

Reddy's first victim was Omaima Sohail, whose miscued hit of a slower delivery straight was gobbled by Shafali Verma, to leave Pakistan reeling at 34 for three after seven overs. The same came at the back of Gull Feroza in the very first over by Renuka Singh. That brought Nida Dar to the crease but with the run-rate stalling, Muneeba Ali tried to pick up the pace, only to be stumped by Richa Ghosh for 17 off the bowling of Shreyanka Patil.

Reddy next trapped Aliya Riaz leg before for four that saw Pakistan lose half their side with 52 runs on the board. Pakistan captain Fatima Sana who hit back-to-back boundaries off Asha Sobhana soon fell when on 13 to a sensational catch by Richa behind the stumps of the same bowler in the 14th over.

Shreyanka later sent back Tuba Hassan caught at fine leg for a duck for her second wicket ended her miserly spell of four overs conceding only 12 runs.

Reddy dismissed a well set Nida (28) in the final over before conceding  six runs off the last two balls to Nashra Sandhu, that boosted the Pakistan total to 105 for 8 in 20 overs.

In response, India's steady start was offset by the loss of their vice-captain Smriti Mandhana (7) who tried to force the pace and was caught off the bowling of Sadia Iqbal. Promoted up the order Jemimah Rodrigues in the company of Shafali Verma slowly built up the tempo with their 43 run second wicket stand. But just as the Indian attacking opener Shafali (32) seemed to be cut loose, she mistimed one that was caught at long on boundary  off Omaima Sohail with the scoreboard reading 61 for two in the 12th over.

Despite the poor NRR against New Zealand, India did not take too many chances in the chase, after the loss of Jemimah (23) who tried to play a big shot off Fatima Sama. Needing 26 runs at this stage, the  loss of attacking batter Richa (0) of the very next ball to Fatima saw Pakistan sniff victory. All rounder Deepti Sharma who survived the hat-trick ball in the company of her captain took India to the brink of victory. An unexpected neck injury suffered by the Indian skipper Harmanpreet (29) in the penultimate over saw her retired hurt two runs short of victory. Sajana Sajeevan who came in next scored the winning boundary in the very first delivery she faced off Nida Dar saw her India seal an important win.

The morale boosting win came at the back of their disappointing result in their opening game, where they lost by a massive margin of  58 runs against Sophie Devine’s New Zealand side while chasing a competitive target of 161.

India’s current Net Run Rate which remains in the negative numbers at -1.217, due to the nature of the loss to the White Ferns also resulted in them occupying fourth position in the five team Group A behind New Zealand, defending champions Australia and Pakistan.Sri Lanka on the other hand with two losses occupy the bottom position,

 Post the Match Player of the Match Arundhati Reddy said “We understand net run rate is important, but also winning the game is all the more important for us. Like you said again, net run rate will be in play especially in this group. Honestly today the wicket was playing a little slower. So obviously, the batters could not. The main thing was to finish the game”.

Brief scores: Pakistan - 105/8 in 20 overs (Nida Dar 28; Arundhati Reddy 3/19, Shreyanka Patil 2/12) lost to India - 108/4 in 18.5 overs (Shafali Verma 32, Harmanpreet Kaur 29*; Fatima Sana 2/ 23) by six wickets.

Photo Cover : Indian pacer Arundhati Reddy who bowled a fiery spell and took three Pakistani wickets was named the Player of the Match  (Photo courtesy BCCI)

Photo Above Indian Women’s team :….Let’s give our best in our quest for a win (Photo courtesy The-ICC)