ICC Women’s World Cup 2017: India vs Pakistan, 5 things India did right to beat their arch-rivals

Indian bowlers were exceptional on the day

An India versus Pakistan contest is always a delight for the cricketing fans and generates hype like no other encounter. After a couple of Champions Trophy games in the men’s department, their female counterparts locked horns in the ICC Women’s World Cup at Derby.

After India won the toss and elected to bat first, the Pakistan bowlers strangled them and they somehow crawled to a score of 169 runs in 50 overs. With the target not being a daunting one, Pakistan were expected to win the game easily.

However, some resilient bowling performances from the spinners didn’t let Pakistan off the hook as they crumbled to a score to 74 runs. India handsomely bagged the contest by 95 runs and registered their third consecutive victory in the World Cup.

As we move ahead, we take a look at the five things that India did right to beat Pakistan.


#5 Contribution from the lower order

With wickets falling at regular intervals and the score at 111/6 after 37 overs, the Indians were tottering and looking down the barrel. The lower order had to step in and guide India to a respectable score at the end of their 50 overs.

Jhulan Goswami had time and again displayed her prowess with the willow in hand. With enormous amount of experience on her shoulders, she had the responsibility of taking India to safer shores.

She played a gutsy knock of 14 runs from 36 balls and provided crucial support to Sushma Verma, the Indian wicket-keeper batsman. Together, they added 34 runs in 10 overs, which injected some sort of momentum into the Indian innings.

#4 Other bowlers contributing their parts

Deepti Sharma was difficult to get away

A batting team will invariably look for someone whom they can target and go after for runs. Other than Ekta Bisht, Pakistan had five bowlers to choose from in order to get their run rate up, but they couldn’t find a way of getting under the skins of any of them.

The Indian spinners were right on their money and hardly shelled out loose deliveries for the Pakistan batswomen to pounce on. While Deepti Sharma picked up the wicket of Nain Abidi and went an economy of 2.1, leg-spinner Poonam Yadav and Harmanpreet Kaur also put a lid on the scoring rate.

The pacers in Jhulan Goswami and Mansi Joshi also impressed by keeping things tight. Joshi replaced Shikha Pandey in the lineup and returned with figures of 6.1-2-9-2.

#3 A solid stand after the first wicket

Poonam Raut has been India’s stalwart at the top

Smriti Mandhana has performed exceptionally well in India’s erstwhile encounters against England and West Indies. However, she perished early to an in-swinger from Diana Baig that thudded into her pads. The onus was on Poonam Raut and Deepti Sharma to stitch together a healthy partnership.

They put their heads down, played risk-free cricket and compiled together a partnership of 67 in 113 balls. Pakistan bowlers tied them down in the initial overs, but that didn’t draw any false strokes from the Indian batsmen.

After playing another useful hand of 47 runs from 72 balls, Poonam was caught and bowled by Nashra Sandhu, which eventually broke the ominous looking stand. Deepti Sharma went on to score 28 runs from 63 balls and gave Sandhu her third wicket.

#2 Ekta Bisht - India’s standout bowler

Ekta Bisht ripped the heart out of Pakistan’s batting

Ekta Bisht was arguably India’s stand out bowler in the game as she stormed to a five-wicket haul to record bowling figures of 10-2-18-5. Pakistan batswomen were all at sea against the left-arm orthodox bowler as she kept bamboozling one batswoman after the other.

In her first spell, she picked up the wickets of Ayesha Zafar, Sidra Nawaz and Iram Javed to leave Pakistan at 14/4 after seven overs. She bowled stump to stump and pinned every batswoman in front of the stumps to get them out leg before wicket.

In her second spell, she churned out two more wickets to put an end to Pakistan’s chances of a comeback. Because of her jaw-dropping spell, she was also elected the Player of the Match.

#1 Sushma Verma’s late surge

Sushma Verma played a handy knock of 33 runs from 35 balls

Before today’s contest, Sushma Verma had scored 13 runs in 22 One Day International games at a strike rate of 23.21 and her top score was 4. These aren’t promising figures by any stretch of imagination.

Nevertheless, with a gritty knock of 33 runs from 35 balls, she not only helped India post a competitive total but also exhibited her mettle as a batsman at the top-most level. With the likes of Smriti Mandhana, Mithali Raj and Harmanpreet Kaur back in the hut, Verma took it upon herself to resurrect the innings.

She was slow to begin with, but her knock gathered pace in the death overs as she hit three boundaries and India’s solitary six in the innings.

Also Read: Women's World Cup 2017: How Pakistan forced Smriti Mandhana and Mithali Raj into losing their wickets

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Edited by Staff Editor