Arundhati's Career-Best 3-19 Leads India to Six-Wicket Victory Over Pakistan, Women's T20 WC

On a slow and low pitch, which was hosting its 100th T20I game, India put in a much-improved effort with the ball after their 58-run thrashing at the hands of New Zealand, bowling tighter lines and not giving any freebies to Pakistan. The effort made by Arundhati besides her spell was another issue-basher Shreyanka Patil who shone with 2-12 to set the base for India's win.

Seam-bowling all-rounder Arundhati Reddy took her career-best figures of 3 for 19, while opener Shafali Verma made a half-century top score with 32 runs as India defeated Pakistan by six wickets in their match for first win of the 2024 Women's T20 World Cup at Dubai International Stadium on Sunday.

On a slow and low pitch, which was hosting its 100th T20I game, India put in a much-improved effort with the ball after their 58-run thrashing at the hands of New Zealand, bowling tighter lines and not giving any freebies to Pakistan. The effort made by Arundhati besides her spell was another issue-basher Shreyanka Patil who shone with 2-12 to set the base for India's win.

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It was as if Pakistan were almost on the cusp of failing to cross three figures when Nida Dar took charge at number eight with 28, backed by some lower-order scores, to make it across 100 in an innings comprising 58 dot balls.

In reaction, India were to complete the chase in a jiffy with an eye on upping their net run rate. However, with Pakistan being disciplined with their bowling, India could manage only 25/1 in the power play and never showed urgency in taking risks to complete the chase early. Shafali, Jemimah Rodrigues (23), and Harmanpreet Kaur (29) ensured India's chase, which saw four boundaries being struck, ended seven balls before the end.

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Renuka Singh Thakur had her first breakthrough for India as she castled Gull Feroza with a big inswinger in the opening over. Muneeba Ali and Sidra Amin hit three boundaries collectively in a 24-run stand before the latter went too early on a sweep off Deepti Sharma and got a deflection off her glove onto the stumps.

With the pressure mounting on Pakistan, Omaima Sohail tried to break free with a hit down the ground but chipped it to mid-off. Muneeba, dropped by Asha Sobhana on 14, danced down the pitch but was deceived by a short ball from Shreyanka, which spun past her and was easily stumped from behind by Richa Ghosh.

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Arundhati had her second wicket when her sharp nip-backer trapped Aliya Riaz lbw and could have gotten another scalp, Fatima Sana, if Asha had not dropped the catch. Fatima swept Asha for back-to-back boundaries before an outside edge on an attempted sweep was caught by Richa, who showed incredible reflexes by sticking her right hand out to take a stunning one-handed catch.

Nida and Syeda Aroob Shah then managed a 28-run stand for the eighth wicket till Arundhati rattled Nida's off-stump to end the partnership, as Nashra Sandhu's unbeaten six, that included a lofted four down the ground on the last ball, took Pakistan past the 100-run mark after Tuba Hassan's top edge was caught at short fine leg off Shreyanka.

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Chasing 106, Shafali survived an lbw decision off Fatima Sana when the replay showed the ball missing stumps. Pakistan strangled the run-flow with tight bowling, and the onus was on India to cut loose in the chase. In a bid to break free, Smriti Mandhana sliced a wide ball from Sadia Iqbal to point in the fifth over.

Then Shafali hit India's first boundary as India ended the powerplay with only the second instance of them not hitting a boundary inside the six-over phase in women's T20Is, pulling Tuba for four on the first ball of the eighth over. She lofted a low-full toss from Tuba for four before slog-sweeping Omaima Sohail for another boundary.

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When Shafali gave the signal of gears shifting, she danced down the pitch to loft Omaima but holed out to long-on. A boundary-less run of almost five overs eventually resulted in Jemimah trying to break free by giving herself room to go inside-out against Fatima but got a thick edge behind.

One got two for Fatima as Richa Ghosh went for a cut on her first ball but gave a thin edge behind. Harmanpreet took India closer to the win with a lofted shot over cover off a slower ball from Fatima but retired hurt on 29 after losing her balance and injuring her neck. Sajeevan Sajana finished the game in style with a lofted four over mid-off to give India its sixth T20 World Cup win over Pakistan.

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Brief scores: Pakistan 105/8 (Nida Dar 28; Arundhati Reddy 3-19, Shreyanka Patil 2-12) lost to India 108/4 in 18.5 overs (Shafali Verma 32, Harmanpreet Kaur 29 retired hurt; Fatima Sana 2-23) by six wickets.

Read also| Pakistan Wins Toss and Elects to Bat First Against India, No Diana or Pooja in Lineup, Women's T20 WC

Read also| Great excitement and eagerness to see Sachin Tendulkar take the field again, Sunil Gavaskar

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