One minute down, next minute up

Pakistan women’s team beat India just a day after losing to Thailand

On October 6, Pakistan women’s team suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of the Thailand women’s team in a Women’s Asia Cup contest in Sylhet, Bangladesh.

The Girls-in-Green started their campaign with a convincing win over Malaysia by nine wickets and knocked down the hosts by the same margin as well.

However, they looked absolutely toothless in their encounter against Thailand, a team that has only played 25 T20Is against ICC Full Members and had won four of them prior to that game.

The girls were criticised for their performance and rightly so as scoring 116/5 in their quota of 20 overs against a minnow like Thailand just cannot be justified.

The Thai team chased down the target at a loss of six wickets with one ball remaining, courtesy of Natthakan Chantham’s 51-ball 61 runs.

On October 7, Pakistan were to face the arch-rivals India, who were clear favourites to win the game as all the statistics were in their favour.

India and Pakistan had come face to face 12 times before this game, where the Women in Blue had stood victorious on 10 occasions, while the Green Caps won twice.

In the last five games, Harmanpreet Kaur’s team had dominated Bismah Maroof and Co.

Ahead of the contest, everything was stacked against Pakistan and their fans too were mentally ready for another disappointing outing by their team.

As the occasion arrived, Maroof won the toss and elected to bat first against a solid bowling line of India.

The openers, Muneeba Ali and Sidra Ameen provided a steady start to the team, scoring 26 runs off 4.2 overs before Ameen fell to Pooja Vastrakar.

However, the Pakistani batters did not make use of the steady start and threw away two wickets in quick succession, reeling at three for 33.

Then the two most experienced campaigners for Pakistan, skipper Maroof and flamboyant all-rounder Nida Dar joined hands to rebuild the inning and they did it in style.

The two contributed 76 runs together. The left-handed batter got out after scoring 32 off 35 balls with the help of two boundaries.

Despite losing her partner, Dar continued to bat in her merry way and went on to score game-changing 56 runs off just 37 deliveries. Her inning included five boundaries and a six.

Pakistan finished their innings on 137/6.

Though it was a respectable total from the Pakistan team’s perspective, it looked like it will be a walk in the park for the mighty Indian batting line that has names like Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur and Jemimah Rodrigues in the mix.

As the game progressed, India struggled to score with three wickets, Sabbhineni Meghana, Mandhana and Rodrigues, down for just 50 runs in 9.4 overs.

The Girls in Blue looked to do too many experiments at crucial times and sent inexperienced batters to bat at crunch situations in the game that cost them.

For an unexplained reason, Indian skipper Kaur came out to bat at number 7 when the game was almost secured in Pakistan’s claws.

The captain along with her resilient all-rounder Deepti Sharma looked to mend the innings and steer her team over the line, but they were taken care of by Sadia Iqbal and Dar on 16 and 12 runs, respectively.

Pakistan had almost finished the game three overs prior when India needed 43 runs on 18 balls. There were some late fireworks from Richs Ghosh, who scored 26 off 13 deliveries with the help of three sixes and a four, but it was too late by then.

Eventually, Pakistan clinched an emphatic win by 13 runs.

Dar shined both with the bat and the bowl, scoring 56* (37) and taking two wickets for 23 runs, while Nashra Sandhu picked three crucial wickets for 30 runs. Aiman Anwar, the only pacer in the bowling attack, was absolutely brilliant with her one wicket for 14 runs in 3.4 overs.

Another unsung hero for the team was Aliya Riaz who took three vital catches, which helped the team grab the victory.

It was an all-rounder performance from Pakistan that brought the team a sweet victory against the neighbours. Pakistan will face the United Arab Emirates on Sunday.