Women's T20 Asia Cup 2024: All-round India thump Pakistan

India emerged victorious in their opening Women's Asia Cup 2024 clash against arch-rivals Pakistan, securing a convincing seven-wicket win. A complete bowling display and support from openers Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana helped India exact revenge from Pakistan after a defeat in the 2022 edition of the tournament. 

Nida Dar won the toss and confidently elected to bat first, citing the bat-friendly Dambulla wicket. But the Pakistani captain's plan backfired as they struggled throughout the innings, thanks to the rampant Indian bowling attack. Pooja Vastrakar was the first bowler to strike, with Gull Feroza mistiming her shot and giving Harmanpreet Kaur a simple catch at mid-on. The fast bowler soon got her second as Muneeba Ali's shot fell into the hands of Jemimah Rodrigues at cover.

Aliya Riaz was the next batter to depart. She came down the track for a big hit, but fell victim to Shreyanka Patil in a soft dismissal at mid wicket. Sidra Amin looked more comfortable with the bat compared to the rest of the Pakistani batting unit. Skipper Dar came out to bat after Riza's wicket, but she didn't last long on the crease either. Deepti Sharma got the better of her and she had to walk back for eight runs.

Amin had been building the innings slowly and steadily for Pakistan. But the pressure eventually got to her as she gifted her wicket to Renuka Singh Thakur, departing for 25 runs off 35 balls. Renuka got her second consecutive wicket, dismissing Iram Javed next. Pakistan went into deep trouble, losing six wickets on 61 runs.

Tuba Hassan hit three boundaries to release some of the pressure off Pakistan, but Deepti had other intentions. The off-spinner got rid of her in the 18th over, which was the most productive one for Team India as they got two more wickets in the same over. Syeda Aroob Shah was looking for a quick run, but she fell short of the crease and Radha Yadav's direct throw ran her out. Nashra Sandhu was Deepti's second prey of the over and third of the innings. 

Fatima Sana made an effort to salvage something from the innings. The 22-year-old hit two sixes in Radha's final over. The left-arm spinner was the only Indian bowler in the game without a wicket. Shreyanka finished off Pakistan's innings at the total of 108 runs by outclassing Sadia Iqbal. 

India's openers were in the driver's seat from the beginning. Shafali and Mandhana looked to seal the game as early as possible. The pair put together 57 runs in the powerplay, with the left-hander carrying her form from the South Africa series. However, Mandhana fell just five runs short of her half-century, becoming the victim of Syeda Aroob Shah. 

Shafali also departed just when she was edging towards her fifty, with Shah picking her second. Dayalan Hemalatha, who had dispatched Sandhu for three consecutive boundaries, lost her wicket to the left-arm spinner in her final over. But it was too late for Pakistan as new batter Rodrigues scored the winning runs for India while also reaching a milestone of 2000 T20I runs. She is the fourth Indian batter to achieve the same after Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana and Mithali Raj. 

India now lead 6-1 against Pakistan head-to-head in Women's Asia Cup and 12-3 in T20Is overall. 

Brief scores: Pakistan 108/10 in 19.2 overs (Sidra Amin 25, Fatima Sana 16; Deepti Sharma 3/20, Renuka Singh Thakur 2/14) lost to India 112/3 in 14.1 overs (Smriti Mandhana 45, Shafali Verma 40; Syeda Aroob Shah 2/9) by seven wickets. POTM: Deepti Sharma