Ever since Amol Muzumdar took over as the head coach of the Indian women’s team, he has stressed on developing a killer instinct, a quality that the team seemed to have lacked in crunch situations, and the best example could be the 2023 T20 World Cup semifinal against Australia in South Africa.
On Friday, India displayed that quality with full intensity in their Asia Cup campaign opener against Pakistan – a match that came with the tagline of being ‘The greatest rivalry ever’, but to put it mildly, the game in Dambulla was yet another one-sided domination from Harmanpreet Kaur & Co.
The outcome was on expected lines with India walking away with a 7-wicket victory with more than five overs to spare.
In her post-match comments, skipper Harmanpreet Kaur reiterated her side’s focus on playing fearless cricket, while crediting the team for starting off the tournament on a confident note.
“Playing fearless cricket, it’s something we’ve spoken about and something we want to keep doing. It’s important to set the tone and whoever got the opportunity did well. When we were bowling, we spoke of early breakthroughs (which Vastrakar gave then) and with the bat, credit to Smriti and Shafali,” Kaur said after India extended their domination to 6-1 against Pakistan in this competition.
It was the Indian bowlers that set the platform for a straightforward run-chase after Nida Dar opted to bat on what she expected was a ‘dry surface’. Pooja Vastrakar wasted no time to pick two crucial wickets that brought Pakistan to the mat inside the power play. At the end of 10 overs, Pakistan crawled to 53 for 3, with Sidra Ameen batting on 24 off 30 and Nida Dar on a run-a-ball 4.
Thereafter, Deepti Sharma, who had conceded ten runs off her first over, came back to pack Nida and Renuka picked up two in two, dismissing Sidra for a 35-ball 25 and then trapping Iram Javed lbw first ball to leave Pakistan reeling at 61 for 6 in the 13th over. Tuba Hassan and Fatima Sana showed some fight, notching up 22 runs apiece, but it wasn’t enough. Deepti’s final over gave India three more wickets which included a run-out affected by Radha Yadav with an excellent throw at the striker’s end. Deepti’s excellent comeback meant she returned figures of 20 for 3 to claim the Player of the Match award.
“Feeling really good as I could deliver as per the plan. I had the belief. As a unit, we are doing well for the last few months. The camps we have had helped a lot. I worked on my bowling after the South Africa series, so that helped. Nida Dar is a good batter, so her wicket was important,” said Deepti.
In contrast, India set the tone early in the run-chase with the openers matching each other shot for shot. As many as 57 runs came off the powerplay as Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma put India in the driver’s seat.
The scoring rate spiked further when Mandhana smashed Tuba for five fours in an over. The left-handed opener was eventually dismissed for 45, but not before the stunning 85-run opening stand had all but ensured India’s victory by a substantial margin. Shafali became Aroob Shah’s second wicket after her opening partner. In the end, Harmanpreet and Jemimah Rodriques completed the formalities without any hassle.
On Sunday, India will lock horns with the UAE eves while Pakistan will look to get back to form in their contest against Nepal.