India marks its Victory over Pakistan at Dambulla
India played its first match of the Asia Cup Championship 2024 on Friday, 19th July 2024 against its neighboring country Pakistan. India won the match with seven wickets in hand. Pakistan batted first, Deepti Sharma with her excellent bowling skills managed to knock out 3 wickets (3-20). This restricted Pakistan to just 108 runs.
India then easily chased the target, opener Smriti Mandhana hit 45 off 31, and then Shefali Verma hit the bat and scored 40 in 29 balls. This quickfire let India win with ease.
The highlight of the match:
Powerplay performance:
- Pakistan decided to bat first but they struggled during the powerplay. Pooja Vastrakar took wickets very early in the inning, and Pakistan only managed to score 37/2 in the first six overs. This led to a very slow start and hence the team suffered to raise the target.
- Indian in response, managed their run rate from the start of their inning. India’s openers attacked from the very start, scoring 9.5 runs per over and reaching 57/0 in their powerplay.
Innings:
Pakistan:
- Pakistan was not able to stand in front of Indian bowlers, in the early overs Pooja Vastrakar dismissed Pakistan’s openers, and then Renuka Thakur and Deepti Sharma performed well, thus restricting Pakistan to a low score.
- Indian Spinners maintained the pressure on the opponents’ batters during the middle overs, by the middle overs Pakistan only managed 44/4. India took the key wicket in hand as they knocked out captain Nida Dar and Sidra Ameen.
- During the last overs, Tuba Hassan and Fatima Sana managed to score 31 runs together, providing some resistance. However, Deepti Sharma didn’t allow them to score much and Pakistan was all out at 108 in 19.2 overs.
India:
- India in the early overs hit boundaries and scored decent. Smriti Mandhana and Shefali Verma, the Indian Openers, played aggressively. Both of them scored quickly and hardly gave any chance to Pakistan’s spinners to chase. By the end of the first six overs, they score 57 runs without losing a single wicket.
- Smriti continued to attack the Pakistani bowlers after the powerplay ended. She hit five boundaries in one row which took India very close to their target, she scored 45 runs in 31 balls.
- Pakistan knocked the Indian openers, but they managed to damage well before they were knocked out. Smriti got out at 45 and Shefali was bowled at 40. Even after these wickets India was already heading towards the win.
- Hemalatha, who came to bat next also kept scoring runs at a good pace, she hit three boundaries. After she got out India only needed a few runs to achieve the target.
- India easily reached the target, finishing the match by scoring 109 runs in just 14. 1 overs with 7 wickets in hand.
Next Matches:
India will face UAE on the 21st of July, Sunday.
Pakistan will face Nepal on Sunday evening (21st July).
Malaysia will face Thailand on Saturday afternoon, 20th July.
Sri Lanka will face Bangladesh on Saturday evening, 20th July.
