India Defy Bug Plague to Cruise to Chilly Victory Over Pakistani Rivals in Women’s Cricket World Cup

Pace bowler Kranti Goud and the spinner Deepti Sharma took three wickets each as the Indian side routed their opponents by a substantial margin in their World Cup match, starting similar to recent fixtures between the countries men’s teams without a handshake from the captains and later included a controversial run-out of a Pakistan opener.

The Indian captain, Kaur, declined to shake hands with Sana during the toss and the teams walked off without greeting each other after the match amidst political tensions between the two neighboring nations.

Skippers at the men’s Asia Cup in the United Arab Emirates similarly avoided handshakes at matches between India and Pakistan. Indian authorities have alleged their neighbor of being involved in attacks on tourists that killed dozens.

Game Overview

India lost the toss, they were dismissed for 247 runs in their allotted overs. Their openers, Pratika Rawal and the star batter Smriti Mandhana, shared 48 for the first wicket before Sana had her leg before wicket for a 32-ball 23. Rawal made 31 before she was bowled by spinner Sadia Iqbal. The captain scored 19 runs before edging behind off Diana Baig.

Deol was the top scorer for the team with 46 and Ghosh made a quick-fire 35* to lift their team to a respectable score.

Rodrigues (32), Sharma (25) and Sneh Rana (20) all made useful runs, while Baig took four for 69 for the opposition and the duo had two wickets each. Play was stopped for a quarter-hour because bugs were troubling the cricketers.

Pakistan Batting

The Pakistani team were dismissed for 159 runs in 43 overs. The only half-century of the game in Colombo came from Amin, who made 81 runs.

The opening wicket was taken in a controversial fashion when the opening batter Ali was adjudged run out. She had grounded her bat after returning to her crease, having moved forward to attempt a stroke. Her bat was then lifted momentarily when an throw struck the wickets. The captain protested to the fourth umpire that the player was not attempting a run but the ruling was upheld.

Amin’s innings of 106 balls included a maximum and nine fours. Goud took 3/20 and Sharma finished with 3/45.