Mithali Raj's fifty led India to victory over Pakistan
Former Indian women's captain Mithali Raj once again stepped up to lead India to victory over Pakistan by 7 wickets in the ICC Women's World T20 group match. Her remarkable fifty led India to gain the upper hand in the high octane clash after Pakistan managed to conjure up a paltry total of 133/7 in 20 overs in Guyana. (Match Highlights)
Raj anchored the Indian run chase with a 47-ball 56 which she made with the help of seven fours in the Group B match which was marred by unprecedented docking of 10 penalty runs on Pakistan.
Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur was all praise for the veteran and feels that she is a 'key' player for the team. Mithali was sent to open along with Smriti Mandhana after Pakistan set a target of 134 for India to chase.
"Mithali is a key player for us, we have to use her in a smart way. They have a good spin attack and she is our best batter against spin. In high-intensity games, her experience was vital as well.," said Harmanpreet in the post-match presentation.
India chased down the target of 134 with six balls to spare, reaching 137 for 3 in 19 overs.
India made a strong start with openers Raj and Smriti Mandhana (26) finding the boundaries at regular intervals in their 73-run stand from 9.3 overs. Mandhana fell to Bismah Maroof with Omaima Sohail taking a superb catch at deep square leg.
India started the match on a bright note by taking three wickets within the first seven overs. However, Pakistan were on the ropes but India allowed them to gain grounds by having three dropped catches. All the three were regulation catches.
Veda Krishnamurthy dropped Nida Dar while on 15 in the 11th over. Poonam Yadav dropped the same batswoman in the 13th over when she was on 23. The next over, Poonam made a mess of a Bismah Maroof skier as she completely misjudged the trajectory of the ball.
Pakistan were still not out of the woods as they could only reach 53 for 3 at the half-way stage but the sloppy Indian fielding allowed their two batswomen Dar and Maroof to gain in confidence as the duo scored their respective fifties.
"We bowled well in patches, but disappointed with the fielding, we need to improve a lot. It's important to bat and bowl well in the first 6 overs - we had some plans, I thought we did well with the ball today."
Talking about opener Mandhana's performance so far, the youngster is yet to make an impact.
"We just told her (Smriti) to spend some time at the wicket, she has been playing well in recent times, but was going hard at the ball."
"A long way to go, still need to work hard at the nets, but we are on the right track at the moment, need to repeat the good things which we are doing," concluded the skipper.
India will next face Ireland in Match 13 of Group B on November 15 (Thursday)
