Ekta, Punam sizzle as India drubs listless Pakistan

With this victory, India has six points from three games. Chasing a paltry 170-run target, Pakistan women never recovered after losing its first six wickets for just 26 runs and was eventually bowled out for 74 in 38.1 overs. 

Man-of-the-match Bisht returned with figures of 5/18 in her quota of 10 overs that included two maidens. Nahida Khan (23) and captain Sana Mir (29) could only manage double digit scores. Earlier, the Indian batters had a tad disappointing day as they could only manage a paltry 169 for 9. 

Electing to bat, the Indians never had any momentum in their innings once in-form Smriti Mandhana (2) was dismissed cheaply. 

Worse, skipper Mithali Raj (8) and her deputy Harmanpreet Kaur (10) could not also score too many runs, making it difficult for the other players to accelerate. Opener Poonam Raut (48) consumed 72 balls while Deepti Sharma fared no better playing 63 balls for a sedate 28. It was keeper Sushma Verma (33 off 35 balls), who used the long handle to get the team near 170-run mark. 

Left-arm spin duo of Nashra Sandhu (4/26 in 10 overs) and Sadia Yousuf (2/30 in 10 overs) inflicted the maximum damage, taking 6 wickets for 56 runs in the 20 overs that they bowled. The final six overs of the innings turned out to be productive for India as Sushma’s attacking display fetched 41 runs during that phase.

P Raut c & b Nashra Sandhu 47, S Mandhana lbw Diana Baig 2, D Sharma c Sidra Nawaz b Nashra Sandhu 28, M Raj lbw Nashra Sandhu 8, H Kaur c Sana Mir b Sadia Yousuf 10, M Meshram b Sadia Yousuf 6, S Verma c Diana Baig b Asmavia Iqbal 33, J Goswami b Nashra Sandhu 14, M Joshi (not out) 4, E Bisht run out (Sidra Nawaz/Nashra Sandhu) 1, Poonam Yadav (not out) 6. Extras (b 4, lb 1, w 5) 10. Total (for nine wickets in 50 overs) 169. FoW: 1-7, 2-74, 3-93, 4-94, 5-107, 6-111, 7-145, 8-159, 9-161 Bowling: Asmavia Iqbal 10-0-46-1, Diana Baig 10-3-28-1, Nashra Sandhu 10-1-26-4, Sana Mir 10-0-34-0, Sadia Yousuf 10-2-30-2.

Ayesha Zafar lbw Bisht 1, Nahida Khan c Verma b Kaur 23, Javeria Khan lbw Goswami 6, Sidra Nawaz lbw Bisht 0, Iram Javed lbw Bisht 0, Nain Abidi b Sharma 5, Asmavia Iqbal c Verma b Joshi 0, Sana Mir b Joshi 29, Nashra Sandhu c Joshi b Bisht 1, Diana Baig b Bisht 0, Sadia Yousuf (not out) 3. Extras (w 6) 6. Total (all out in 38.1 overs) 74. FoW: 1-1, 2-8, 3-9, 4-14, 5-24, 6-26, 7-44, 8-51, 9-51, 10-74. Bowling: J Goswami 5-0-12-1, E Bisht 10-218-5, D Sharma 10-2-21-1, M Joshi 6.1-2-9-2, Poonam Yadav 5-1-8-0, H Kaur 2-0-6-1.