Women's World T20 2018: Day 1 - Roundup

The Women’s World T20 kicked off in the Caribbean islands on Friday. Three games were scheduled for the opening day of the mega-tournament. While one was a Group A game, the other two were Group B matches. India Women, New Zealand Women and Australia Women, Pakistan Women faced off each other in the Group B games. It was Windies Women versus Bangladesh Women in the Group A match.

All the three games turned out to be one-sided encounters. A scintillating knock from the skipper Indian Harmanpreet Kaur was one of the highlights of the day. Here is how things progressed on day-1 of the Women’s World T20.

India Women vs New Zealand Women (Group B) – Match 1

Harmanpreet Kaur goes onto the beast mode

India won the toss and opted to bat first in this encounter. However, it wasn’t Mithali Raj who walked out to open the innings with Smriti Mandhana. Wicketkeeper Taniya Bhatia was the other opener. But, both of them didn’t have a fruitful start to the tournament. While the keeper was out for 9 runs, the left-hander got out for 2. Dayalan Hemalatha, after scoring a brief 15 off 7 balls was dismissed by Kasperek.

From here on, Jemimah Rodrigues joined hands with skipper Harmanpreet Kaur. The Indian captain was absolutely devastating on the night. She hit bowlers all around the park and in the process notched up her maiden T20I century. She got there in just 49 balls and was eventually dismissed after she scored 103 off 51. On the other hand, Rodrigues got 59 off 45 deliveries as India ended on a high with 194/5 after 20 overs.

Suzie Bates doesn’t find much support

Chasing this huge total was always going to be an uphill task. However, Suzie Bates took the onus upon herself to reduce the pressure on the others. Although her partner Anna Peterson was dismissed for just 14, she had a brilliant hitter in Sophie Devine for the company. But, just as this pair was eyeing something big, Poonam Yadav struck with a double blow dismissing Devine and Jess Watkin in the same over.

Bates was dismissed by Arundhati Reddy after she accelerated her way to 67 off 50 balls. Once she got out, wickets kept on tumbling and the Kiwis never looked to be close to India’s total at any stage. It looked quite obvious that it was India’s game and they ultimately won by 34 runs. Hemalatha and Poonam picked up three wickets each as the White Ferns only got to 160/9 in their 20 overs.

Brief Scores:

IND-W: 194/5 in 20 overs (Harmanpreet Kaur 103, Jemimah Rodrigues 59, Lea Tahuhu 2/18)

NZ-W: 160/9 in 20 overs (Suzie Bates 67, Katey Martin 39, Dayalan Hemalatha 3/26)

Result: India Women won by 34 runs.

Australia Women vs Pakistan Women (Group B) – Match 2

The Aussies won the toss and opted to bat first in this match. The openers Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney provided the side with a good start as both of them scored 48 runs each. Skipper Meg Lanning with 41 ensured that the total was pushed further as the side ended with 165/5 in 20 overs.

The chase was a struggle for the Pakistan Women. They lost quick wickets early on. Omaima Sohail and Bismah Maroof with 20 and 26 runs respectively tried to get things back on track. However, once these two fell, there was just too much of pressure on the other batsmen. They only managed to get to 113/8 and lost the match by 52 runs.

Brief Scores:

AUS-W: 165/5 in 20 overs (Alyssa Healy 48, Beth Mooney 48, Aliya Riaz 2/25)

PAK-W: 113/8 in 20 overs (Bismah Maroof 26, Sana Mir 20*, Megan Schutt 2/13)

Result: Australia Women won by 52 runs.

Windies Women vs Bangladesh Women (Group A) – Match 3

The Windies Women were put into bat first in this low-scoring encounter. Wicket-keeper Kycia Knight with 32 off 24 balls was the leading run-scorer for the side. Skipper Sarah Taylor crawled her way to 29 off 44 balls as the home team put up 106 runs on the board for the loss of 8 wickets.

Although this should have been an easy chase, the batting performance from Bangladesh was terrible. None of them managed to reach the double figures at least. Eight runs was the highest individual score in the innings. Deandra Dottin was terrific with a five-wicket haul. Her figures read 3.4-0-6-5 as the opponents were bowled out for just 46.

Brief Scores:

WI-W: 106/8 in 20 overs (Kycia Knight 32, Sarah Taylor 29, Jahanara Alam 3/23)

BAN-W: 46/10 in 14.4 overs (Fargana Hoque 8, Ayasha Rahman 6, Deandra Dottin 5/6)

Windies Women won by 60 runs.

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