Muristek
Mount Maunganui, March 6
India overcame a top-order wobble to beat Pakistan by 107 runs to maintain their perfect record against the neighbours in the women's cricket World Cup here today.
122 Runs Pooja Vastrakar and Sneh Rana raised in their partnership. It was the highest-ever seventh-wicket stand at an ODI World Cup, and also India's highest-ever seventh-wicket ODI stand
5 Dismissals involving 18-year-old Richa Ghosh, making her the first World Cup debutant to effect five wicketkeeping dismissals
11-0 Win-loss record for India women against Pakistan in ODIs
15 Defeats in a row for the Pakistan women in ODI World Cups
India had prevailed in all 10 previous One-day matches between the two, but Bismah Maroof's team threatened to pull off an upset when they reduced Mithali Raj's side to 114/6 in the 34th over.
The pitch was slow, so our plan was to focus on singles and doubles at the startRs Sneh Rana
We lost early wickets. We were the last batting pair. So, we planned to play basic cricket till 45th over and then accelerateRs Pooja Vastrakar
Opener Smriti Mandhana made 52 but it was counter-attacking knocks from lower-order batters Pooja Vastrakar (67) and Sneh Rana, who made unbeaten 53, that helped India to a decent total of 244/7. Indian seamers kept it tight upfront and spinner Rajeshwari Gayakwad (4/31) wrecked the middle-order as Pakistan were bundled out for 137 in 43 overs. "Relieved to have won the first game but there are a lot of things we have to work on," Mithali said. "When you lose wickets like that, it puts pressure. The partnership between Pooja and Sneh got us back. It's important the top-order scores runs, we'll want to address that." — Reuters