India vs Pakistan, ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2016, Match 7 at Delhi: Anam Ami’s spell and other highlights

Rain played a spoil sport as Pakistan Women beat India Women by two runs according to Duckworth-Lewis (D/L) method in Group B match of ICC Women’s World T20 2016 at Delhi on Saturday. Rain must take the blame here because a brilliant effort from India went in vain, as they defended a poor target of 97, which could havegifted them a spectacular victory, provided all 20 overs of Pakistan’s innings were played. After this fixture, both India and Pakistan have a win and a defeat, having played two matches each. A better run rate has helped India retain the top spot in the points table, while Pakistan sits on No.3. Here are the best moments from Indian Women’s clash against Pakistan’s Women: Full  Cricket Score, India Women vs Pakistan Women, Women’s T20 World Cup 2016, IND W vs PAK W, Match 7 Group B at Delhi

India’s poor batting: One of the major reasons behind India’s loss at the hands of their arch rivals was their miserable show with the bat. While three batters were dismissed scoring in a single digit, no Indian managed to even cross 25 runs with Veda Krishnamurthy being their top-scorer with 24 runs. The Indian skipper Mithali Raj although struggled in scoring freely, she was at the crease and until then there was hope of her covering up for lost runs, later in the innings. It just wasn’t India’s day with the bat,  after Mithali was dismissed in the 12th over.

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Once again, Smriti Mandhana failed. The last time she was dismissed for a duck was in India’s opening match against Bangladesh, and on Saturday she walked with a run having faced four deliveries. Middle-order batsman, Harmanpreet Kaur, who was the player of the match in the last game could not replicate the same performance, even her off day made a lot of difference.

Anam Ami: The Pakistani spinner was again the pick of the bowlers for her side, with figures of 1 for 9 from 4 overs. She drew first blood with the wicket of Indian opener Vanitha VR in the 4th over, when India had just three runs on board. That early wicket derailed India’s momentum, which India never regained throughout their innings. Although Pakistan lost their opening fixture against West Indies, Anam’s spell was tremendous picking four scalps and now she is the leading wicket-taker of World T20 2016 with five scalps from two matches. READ: Pakistan edge India by 2 runs according to D/L method in Group B match of ICC Women’s T20 World Cup at Delhi

Veda Krishnamurthy’s knock: Indian batswomen were so bad that their 20 overs never witnessed any of them going for back to back boundaries. There are hardly any moments which saw the Indian batsmen going after the bowlers. The only two overs, that made the Indian crowd happy was during during the 15th and 16th over. Veda’s drive toward the extra cover came on the very next delivery of Harmanpreet’s dismissal. The next over saw Veda smash two more of those boundaries. Unfortunate for India, Veda did not continue for longer and was dismissed in the 17th over.

The twin run-outs in 16th over: Pakistan had lost four wickets, they needed another 23 runs from 30 balls, it was an easy situation for them. However, they didn’t see what awaited them in the coming over. Mithali Raj handed the ball to Poonam Yadav for her second spell. Although she did not make a breakthrough, her excellent bowling suddenly pushed a ton of pressure on the opposition and in desperation to score, quick run outs happened in two consecutive deliveries. Pakistani skipper Sana Mir and Asmavia Iqbal were the players to get dismissed. Those two wickets easily would have changed tables around had rain not played a spoil sport and Pakistan had also played the last four overs.

(Sakshi Gupta, a reporter with CricketCountry, is a sports fanatic whose mantra in life is “do only what you enjoy.” Her Twitter handle is @sakshi2929)