In a practice match of the Women's T20 World Cup on Wednesday, Team India defeated Bangladesh by 52 runs. India won the toss and decided to bat in this match. Batting first, India scored 183 runs at the loss of 5 wickets. Chasing 184 runs, the Bangladesh team could only manage 131 runs in 20 overs at the loss of 8 wickets. Richa Ghosh's aggressive half-century and lethal bowling performance by the women in blue powered the Indian women's cricket team to win.
Chasing India's target of 184 runs, the Bangladesh team lost wickets at regular intervals and the team could only manage 131 runs for eight wickets. Devika Vaidya (2/21) was India's most successful bowler while Rajeshwari Gaikwad, Anjali Sarwani, Deepti Sharma, Radha Yadav, and Shafali Verma took one wicket each. For Bangladesh, captain Nigar Sultana (40) and opener Murshida Khatoon (32) contributed most of the runs through the bat.
The start of Team India, which came out to bat first in this match, was nothing special. The team had lost three wickets for 35 runs in the powerplay, after which Richa (91 not out) and Jemima Rodrigues (41) shared a brisk 92-run partnership for the fourth wicket to take the team to 183 for five. Richa hit nine sixes and three fours in her 56-ball knock while Jemima hit six fours and a six in her 27-ball innings. Pooja Vastrakar finally scored an unbeaten 13 off four balls with two sixes to finish the match for India. Nahida Akhtar took two wickets for 24 runs from Bangladesh.
First encounter with Pakistan
India has to play its first match in the World Cup against Pakistan. The match between the two teams will be played on January 12 at the Newlands Cricket Stadium, Cape Town. Taking a look at the head-to-head statistics of both the teams in T20, India has the upper hand. A total of 13 matches have been played between the two teams so far and India has won 10 while Pakistan has won just 3 matches.
Team India squad for Women's T20 World Cup
Harmanpreet Kaur (Captain), Smriti Mandhana (Vice-Captain), Shafali Verma, Yastika Bhatia (Wicket-keeper), Richa Ghosh (Wicket-keeper), Jemima Rodrigues, Harleen Deol, Deepti Sharma, Devika Vaidya, Radha Yadav, Renuka Thakur, Anjali Sarwani, Pooja Vastrakar, Rajeshwari Gaikwad, Shikha Pandey.
Reserves: Sabhineni Meghna, Sneh Rana, Meghna Singh.
