India will enter the ICC Women’s World Cup with their tails up after opener Smriti Mandhana’s 67-ball 66 and the bowlers’ disciplined show led them to an 81-run victory over the West Indies in their final warm-up match here on Tuesday. The elegant Mandhana, who was kept under observation after a blow to the head during the team’s first exhibition game against South Africa on Sunday, was in her element within two days of the injury, laying the foundation for the challenging total of 258 for india. 50 overtime.
In response, the West Indies were stopped at 177 for nine at Rangiora Oval.
India, who face arch rivals Pakistan in their campaign opener on Sunday, defeated South Africa by two runs in their first warm-up match.
The 2017 edition finalists, India, chose to bat and had a bad start when Shafali Verma was thrown to a duck by Chinelle Henry.
Deepti Sharma joined Mandhana in the middle and the two rebuilt the innings with a partnership that was broken after the two veteran campaigners added 117 runs for the second wicket while maintaining a scoring percentage of nearly six.
The in-from Mandhana collected her 66 runs in 67 balls, hitting seven fours in the process before being sacked from her own bowling by Cherry-Ann Fraser.
Mandhana’s good try came just two days after she was diagnosed with a minor soft-tissue injury to her left earlobe, which caused discomfort while hitting the South Africans, forcing her to leave the field and retire.
Deepti made 51 off 64 balls and collected most of her runs in singles and twos. She only touched one border during her stay in the middle.
When Deepti was sent back by Fraser, India was left 142 for three in the 27th.
Skipper Mithali Raj contributed 30 from 42 balls using four boundaries, while Yastika Bhatia came in with a useful 42 in 53 deliveries. Bhatia found the fence five times.
The West Indies innings got off to a disastrous start as they lost four wickets with just 53 runs on the board, including captain Stefanie Taylor for just 8 runs.
Wicket-keeper Shemaine Campbelle scored the highest for the Windies with 63 from 81 balls, while Hayley Matthews made 44 in 61 deliveries.
However, the others failed to make a substantial contribution as the West Indies fell short by a large margin.
Pooja Vastrakar was the most successful Indian bowler, scoring 3/21 in seven overs, while there were two wickets for Meghna Singh and Deepti, who finished the match with a fine all round show.
Veteran Jhulan Goswami (0/14 in 8 overs) also bowled exceptionally well, although she was unable to make it into the wicket column.
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Short Scores: India Women: 258 in 50 overs (Smriti Mandhana 66, Deepti Sharma 51) West Indian Women: 177/9 in 50 overs (Shemaine Campbelle 63, Hayley Matthews 44; Pooja Vastrakar 3/21).
(This story was not edited by DailyExpertNews staff and was generated automatically from a syndicated feed.)
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