India's women cricketers defeated Pakistan and recorded their third successive victory in the ICC Women’s World Cup on Sunday, while the men's team narrowly lost their fourth ODI against West Indies. For Indian women left-arm spinner Ekta Bisht shine with the ball as she captured 5 Pakistani wickets for 18 runs to defend a meagre total of 169 and to bundle out Pakistan for 74 in 38.1 overs. India now have full six points from three games and is at the top of the table.
What looked like a sub-par score turned out to be a challenging one for Pakistani batters, who have never successfully chased more than 134 in a 50-over World Cup game. The Pakistani batswomen were all at sea against Ekta’s arm balls. She removed Ayesha Zafar (1), Sidra Nawaz (0) and Iram Javed (0) in her first four overs to wreak havoc. Pakistan never recovered from that setback and opener Nahida Khan (23) and skipper Sana Mir (29) were the only ones to reach double figures for Pakistan.
Earlier, the Indians could only manage 169 for nine after electing to bat. The innings never gained momentum once the in-form Smriti Mandhana (2) was dismissed cheaply. Skipper Mithali Raj and deputy Harmanpreet Kaur could not also score too many runs. The final six overs of the innings turned out to be productive for India as Sushma’s attacking display fetched 41 runs during that phase. Pakistan's left-arm spin duo of Nashra Sandhu and Sadia Yousuf inflicted the maximum damage to India, taking six wickets for 56 runs in the 20 overs that they bowled.
Smriti guides India to easy victory over West Indies
Opener Smriti Mandhana made an unbeaten 106 to guide India to a comfortable seven wicket victory over West Indies on Thursday. Chasing a modest target of 184, Indian eves won with as many as 45 balls to spare. Along with skipper Mithali Raj (46), Mandhana added 108 runs for the third wicket virtually shutting the World T20 champions out of contest. While Mithali was unlucky not to score her eighth consecutive half-century by four runs, Mandhana did not let the second chance go abegging, hitting some delightful strokes all-round the park. When Shanilia Connell dug one short, she rocked to the backfoot pulling it over mid-wicket. She repeatedly found the gaps on the off-side and also hit some glorious shots on the on-side.
West Indies win nail-biting finish
The fourth India-West Indies ODI oscillated between mediocrity and downright doltishness and Windies bowlers sealed the deal with a superb finish to their defence. Defending 16 off the last two overs, Jason Holder and Kesrick Williams gave away just four runs while taking three wickets to help their side keep the series alive. They won the fourth ODI by 11 runs and left the series well poised at 1-2.
Holder was the star performer for the hosts, taking five wickets for 27 runs and putting a wet blanket over India's hopes of a early finish to the game and the series. Having restricted West Indies to 189 for 9 on a slow pitch at Antigua's Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, India put in a batting performance that would have put the most ardent cricket fan to sleep. Their reluctance to score quickly during the middle overs cost them badly at the end, when a spur of wickets left them with too much to do.
MS Dhoni's much-debated 'take-it-to-the-last-over' tactic failed as the hosts put the brakes on the Indians' scoring. Dhoni scored at a rate of less than a run every two balls, but was helped that the required rate never really got out of hand, the highest it came to was around seven and a three quarters an over before the 48th over. He notched up his slowest ever 50, getting there off 108 balls (88 being his previous slowest), and faced the highest number of dot balls ever in an ODI innings (70). That left India needing 55 off the last 43 balls, an equation India still would have fancied considering Dhoni's presence at the crease.
A turning point arrived in the 44th over, when Roston Chase was tossed the ball. Dhoni had struggled against the similar off spin of Ashley Nurse and the move seemed to be backed by that logic. But the execution was all awry as Hardik Pandya and Dhoni combined to slam 16 off the over. India had struck gold. The next over, by Alzarri Joseph saw four wides and India were within touching distance of a win.
Once again, however, there was a twist. Pandya fell for a 21-ball 20 while Ravindra Jadeja (11 off 11) followed soon after. India needed 16 off the last two overs, and Kuldeep Yadav could only manage to take a single after eating up three deliveries. Off the last ball of the over, Dhoni holed out to long on as the hosts hammered the nail in the coffin.
India's cautious approach came after they had gotten their chase off to a terrible start. Shikhar Dhawan meekly chipped Joseph to be out for five, while Virat Kohli was once again done in by Holder's short ball. When Dinesh Karthik, one of three changes in the Indian side, fell for two soon after, India were in dire straits at 47 for 3, but Windies still had a determined Dhoni and Ajinkya Rahane to contend with. Rahane notched up another fifty in the series and India looked comfortable as long as he was around, but once he fell, Dhoni and Co. could not complete the job.
India cruise to another big win
It was a pitch that was far from perfect for the batsmen. India had been playing on pristine batting tracks in England before they ended up in the Caribbean. In Antigua, they were facing a pitch that left their batsmen with all to do, and their experience shone through.
Faced with a rare top-order failure, MS Dhoni split his knock into two contrasting halves - cautious at the start and with a trademark finish at the end, while Ajinkya Rahane dropped anchor with another 50-plus score to give India a solid total to defend. In reply to India's 251 for 4, West Indies' batting crumbled as they succumbed to a 93-run loss. India's bowlers revelled on a pitch, that although much more batting friendly than in the first essay, still had something in it for the bowlers. The win meant that India had taken an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series.
Having lost the toss for the third straight game, an unchanged India were asked to bat first on a pitch which offered the bowlers significant assistance. Miguel Cummins, Kesrick Williams, making his debut, and Jason Holder all extracted great bounce from the wicket to keep the batsmen on their toes. The wicket had been kept under covers for the past two days due to torrential rains, and that ensured there was enough juice in the track for the bowlers.
India's top order slumped under testing conditions, with Shikhar Dhawan (2), Virat Kohli (11) and Yuvraj Singh (39) combining for a total of 52 runs as India found themselves struggling at 100 for 3 in the 27th over. Rahane, however, held one end up with some cautious batting, while Dhoni started slowly before catching up nicely at the end to give India something solid to defend.
