Deepti Sharma shone with the ball before Richa Ghosh led India to a six-wicket victory over the West Indies in their Women’s T20 World Cup Group 2 match in Cape Town on Wednesday. Deepti spun a web around the West Indies batters to narrow them down to 118 for six after being asked to bowl. The seasoned off spinner (3/15) took three wickets to become the first Indian to reach 100 women’s T20I wickets.
Ghosh (44 not out) and captain Harmanpreet Kaur (33) then set up a crucial 72-run tie to take India to their second win of the tournament with 11 balls to spare.
Needing less than a ball, India got off to an electric start with openers Shafali Verma (28) and Smriti Madhana (10) taking the team total to 31 in four overs off the back of six fours.
But India lost momentum when slow bowling did the trick for the West Indies.
Mandhana completely missed off-spinner Karishma Ramharack’s (2/14) ball, resulting in an easy stumping for wicket-keeper Rasha Williams.
Jemimah Rodrigues (1), winner of the last game, Hayley Matthews (1/12) became the first and only casualty of the day as the skipper took a great catch from her own bowling.
After two low-scoring overs, Shafali tried to raise the bar but was caught long-legged and the West Indies took three wickets in quick succession.
Harmanpreet took time to settle before hitting back-to-back fours to Afy Fletcher (0/24) in the ninth over. The Indian skipper’s knock came off 42 balls using three bounds.
Ghosh did what she does best: finish the game.
The youngster hit five fours, including one to end the game in her unbeaten 32-ball innings. She took India to 119 for 4 in 18.1 overs. Earlier, Pooja Vastrakar (21/1), who opened with the new ball, gave India the early break by getting rid of the dangerous Hayley Matthew (2), who struck with her very first ball.
The West Indies skipper was overtaken by the extra bounce as Richa Ghosh completed a regulation catch.
Pooja continued to pressure the West Indies by bowling a wicket girl. Shemaine Campbelle (30) hit the West Indies first boundary in the third over, hitting a throw from Renuka Singh (1/22) down the square leg.
The introduction of spin led to the West Indies collecting 12 runs, including two fours from Rajeshwari Gayakwad’s over.
The West Indies were 53 for 1 at the halfway mark. Campbelle and Stefanie Taylor (42) stabilized the West Indies innings as they slowly but surely cemented a 73-run partnership. The two shared nine boundaries between them.
However, double strikes from the ever-reliable Deepti led to a mini-collapse of the batter. The off-spinner first penalized Campbelle for making a reverse sweep, while Smriti Mandhana completed a nice catch on the short third.
Three balls later, she trapped Taylor leg, for which was initially ruled not out by the umpire, but India judged the decision to be successful and had it changed.
Chinelle Henry (2) was next to go as Mandhana and Ghosh caused her to run out.
India was able to stem the flow of runs, but their fieldwork proved to be unsatisfactory. Deepti dropped Chedean Nation to 3 in the 16th left.
Nation and Shabika Gajnabi (15) took the West Indies past 100 runs.
Deepti reached the 100 wicket mark in the last over when she cheated Aly Fletcher (0).
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