Women's World T20: Mitali Raj guides India 7-wicket victory over Pakistan

Providence (Guyana), Nov 12 (IANS) Seasoned batter Mithali Raj cracked a half century to guide India to a facile seven-wicket win over arch-rivals Pakistan in the ICC Women's World T20 here on Sunday. SCORECARD Raj held fort from one end to

Earlier, Pakistan rode on half-centuries from Bismah Maroof and Nida Dar to post 133/7.

Fresh from a 52-run defeat to title contenders Australia in their opening match, Pakistan struggled to get going in the face of some accurate Indian bowling.

Asked to bat first, Pakistan suffered an early blow when Arundhati Reddy dismissed Ayesha Zafar in the very first over thanks to an excellent catch by Veda Krishnamurthy at first slip. 

Omaima Sohail and Javeria Khan virtually gifted away their wickets with rather silly run-outs to leave Pakistan in trouble at 30/3 in the seventh over.

However, Bismah and Nida brought the innings back on track with a 94-run stand. Bismah scored 53 runs off 49 balls while Nida hit a breezy 52 off 35 deliveries which included five boundaries and two hits into the stands.

Nida was the beneficiary of a piece of good luck when Veda dropped an easy catch at long-off off Radha Yadav's bowling even as the ball slipped through for a boundary.

The Indians continued to struggle with their fielding even as the Pakistanis piled on the runs with some superb strokeplay.

Dayalan Hemalatha brought the Indians back into the game when she sent back both Pakistani batters in the 19th over shortly after they had reached their respective half-centuries.

Maroof was caught by Veda at long-on after she had come down the track to a well-flighted delivery. Nida followed her back to the pavilion a couple of deliveries later when a mistimed cut hand an easy catch to Harmanpreet Kaur at cover.

The rest of the Pakistani batters never really matched up to the Indian bowlers as apart from Javeria Khan, all of them failed to reach double figures.

Brief Scores:

India 137/3 in 19 overs (Mithali Raj 56; Diana Baig 1/19) beat Pakistan: 133/7 in 20 overs (Bismah Maroof 53, Nida Dar 52; Poonam Yadav 2/22, Dayalan Hemalatha 2/34) by seven wickets.

---

IANS