ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023, India vs West Indies: Deepti Sharma’s 3-15, Richa Ghosh’s 44 and Pooja Vastrakar’s 1-21 are top performances as India Women beat West Indies Women by 6 wickets.
Brief Scores: India 119/4 (Richa Ghosh 44*, Harmanpreet Kaur 33, Karishma Ramharack 14/2) beat West Indies 118/6 (Stefanie Taylor 42, Shemaine Campbelle 30, Deepti Sharma 15/3) by 6 wickets
Player of the Match: Deepti Sharma (4-0-15-3)
India Women beat West Indies Women by six wickets in their second match in ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023 at the Newlands in Cape Town on Wednesday. India chased down the paltry target of 119 runs posted by West Indies, with 11 balls to spare.
India present improved bowling performance against West Indies
In their previous encounter against Pakistan, India’s pacers started well in the powerplay overs only to falter and leak runs at the death, which ruined the hard work they had done to keep things tight initially.
Renuka Thakur was quite economical in her first two overs against Pakistan, but in her last over that day she leaked way too many runs ending with figures of 3-0-24-0. Deepti Sharma also got hit for many runs ending her spell at 4-0-39-1 against Pakistan. Only spinner Radha Yadav was the saving grace in bowling for India with a spell of 4-0-21-2 in that particular game.
This time against West Indies, India seem to have learned their lessons and used back of length deliveries, bowled tight stump-to-stump lines and used variations effectively to make amends for the errors committed in the previous match. India’s bowlers were at their economical best in this game, picking up wickets at regular intervals. Renuka Thakur was quite economical with figures of 4-0-22-1, but yet she has to get her wicket-taking mojo back as she did previously in Commonwealth Games 2022 Cricket Competition.
Deepti returned figures of 4-0-15-3 for India, dismissing Stefanie Taylor (42) and Shemaine Campbelle (30) just when they were looking to take the game away after West Indies got a steady start.
The moot point here is that India Women pacers need to keep at it like they did against West Indies, and in order to see themselves competing in the semi-final and final against powerhouse teams, they really need to up their ante in the bowling department.
Read More: Women’s T20 WC 2023, Group 2, IND v PAK: Richa Ghosh’s 31* takes India past Pakistan
India chase down the target of 118 with 11 balls to spare
West Indies couldn’t capitalise over the steady start provided by Campbelle and Taylor after Hayley Matthews got dismissed cheaply. The Caribbean batters lost the plot in the middle overs to score only 118, losing 6 wickets. Deepti Sharma was at her best with 4-0-15-3 and Renuka Thakur was good with figures of 4-0-22-1.
India got a speedy start courtesy openers, Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana, and reached 31/0 in 3 overs. Verma was at her hitting best on Wednesday, before getting dismissed at 28(23). The quick wickets of Shafali, Smriti and Jemimah Rodrigues sent panic waves for a few seconds as India slumped to 43/3 chasing a modest 118, but the blue brigade’s innings was steadied by a crucial partnership of 72 runs between young dynamic wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh and skipper Harmanpreet Kaur.
India managed to chase down the target of 118/6 with 11 balls to spare through vital contributions of Shafali (28), Richa (44*) and Harmanpreet (33).
Here’s a look at the top three performances from the Group 2 game between India and West Indies at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023.
Deepti Sharma’s crucial strikes help India reinforce discipline
Deepti Sharma proved to be a vital cog for India against West Indies with bowling figures of 4-0-15-3. She dismissed Taylor and Campbell, just when they were beginning to capitalise on a steady start, and at the back end, she dismissed Afy Fletcher.
It was a historic day for the bowling all-rounder, as she surpassed the likes of Poonam Yadav (98 wickets), Yuzvendra Chahal (91) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (90) to become the first Indian bowler to clinch 100 T20I wickets.
Pooja Vastrakar produces prolific pace bowling spell
Pooja Vastrakar was quite handy on Wednesday with her back of length deliveries, off cutters, back of the hand deliveries and variations to contain the run-scoring by West Indies. She dismissed Hayley Mathews with a peach of a delivery outside off stump that bounced more than expected forcing the batter to gift an easy catch to wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh. Vastrakar dismissed Matthews for the third time in as many innings, winning a match up battle against the West Indies player again.
Hayley’s strike rate also dips significantly to 62.2 against Vastrakar and it seems like Matthews has no answer to the compelling questions asked by Vastrakar.
Read More: Top Four India Players to watch out for in ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023
Richa Ghosh proves to be match-winner yet again
Richa Ghosh is in the form of her life, and has been a saviour for India on many occasions in the recent past. On Wednesday, she scored 44* off 32 deliveries and stitched an important partnership of 72 with skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (32) just when things started looking gloomy for India after losing three wickets on the trot.
Special credit must go to Karishma Ramharack for the way she kept things tight for India in WI’s bid to defend a modest total of 118 runs after Shafali scored quickfire runs against Shamilia Connell and Chinelle Henry in the first two overs. It was Ramharack who provided the much-required breakthroughs for West Indies, dismissing India’s star openers Mandhana (10) and Shafali (28).
Statistical Highlights
100 – Deepti Sharma achieved a rare feat for India taking 100 international T20 wickets in 89 matches, at an average of 19.07
1 – Deepti also becomes the youngest player to take 100 T20I wickets, overtaking Anisha Mohammed of West Indies who achieved this feat at the age of 27.
8 – It was India’s eighth victory on the trot against West Indies in T20Is.
Read More: India Women on the right course ahead of February’s ICC T20 World Cup 2023?
Points Table Scenario & What’s Next
India Women are placed second in Group 2 with 4 points from two games and net run rate (NRR) of 0.590. West Indies are yet to open their account after two games, reeling at the fourth spot with an NRR of -1.542. England lead the table with 4 points and an NRR of 2.497.
India will next face table-toppers England at St George’s Park in Gqeberha on February 18.
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