Rodrigues, Ghosh punish sloppy Pakistan to seal tense chase

Unbeaten knocks from Bismah Maroof and Ayesha Sameen went in vain after they had pushed Pakistan to a challenging total

Rodrigues, Ghosh punish sloppy Pakistan to seal tense chase
Women's T20 World Cup

India 151 for 3 (Rodrigues 53*, Shafali 33, Ghosh 31*, Sandhu 2-15) beat Pakistan 149 for 4 (Maroof 68*, Naseem 43*, Radha 2-21) by seven wickets

Forty-one needed off 24.


Jemimah Rodrigues had lost her timing briefly. Harmanpreet Kaur was nervously chewing her fingernails. Coach Hrishikesh Kanitkar was furiously writing notes in his diary. The Pakistani players could scent a famous win. This seemed like a contest like no other at Newlands in Cape Town.

And then everything Pakistan did right until that point came crashing down. Confidence gave way to nerves, fielders fumbled, bowlers lost their lengths, and they leaked eight boundaries in the next three overs. And that was game, set and match to India.

Richa Ghosh, the gum-chewing, big-hitting teenager who won the Under-19 World Cup last month, led the turnaround, coolly hitting medium pacer Aiman Anwer for three successive fours in the 18th over to bring it down to 14 off 12.

At the other end, Rodrigues, who has held the batting line-up together, found her range. She pulled, swept and then fittingly hit the winning runs by backing away and carving a boundary through extra cover, which also brought up her half-century.

Their unbroken 58-run stand, a perfect combination of aggression and touch play for the best part, leading India to their highest successful chase at the Women's T20 World Cup.