Some contests are close. This one finished inside the powerplay. Everyone in the stadium knew it.
India Women gave Pakistan a seven‑wicket defeat at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Saturday. They bowled them out for 55 runs, the lowest total ever in Pakistan Women’s T20I history and then chased the target in just 8.4 overs. This victory puts India Women at the top of Group A. Sends them to the semi‑finals without a single loss.
A Spin Masterclass that Pakistan Could Not Answer
Pakistan won the toss. Chose to bat. For the four overs the game seemed normal. Muneeba Ali and Shawaal Zulfiqar added 27 runs for the wicket playing carefully and steadily. Then Shafali Verma dismissed Muneeba for 13 runs and the rest of the innings fell apart.
Shree Charani was the player who turned a start into a full collapse. In the same over that broke Pakistan’s momentum she took two wickets in the powerplay over: she dismissed Gull Feroza for zero and then trapped Zulfiqar lbw. She took a wicket soon after catching Ayesha Zafar at mid‑on by Harmanpreet Kaur. This match was also the match for Harmanpreet as India’s captain.
After that wickets fell one after another. Prema Rawat joined the action dismissing Sadaf Shamas and then Deepti Sharma trapped Pakistan’s captain Fatima Sana lbw for zero. Eyman Fatima briefly threatened with the boundary of the innings but a mix‑up with Umm‑e‑Hani ended in a run‑out. Rawat returned to take Umm‑e‑Hani with a top‑edged sweep. Then she completed her hat‑trick by catching Nashra Sandhu off her own bowling.
Pakistan were out for 55 runs in 18.1 overs. Charani finished with 3 wickets for 7 runs in her four overs giving an economy rate of 1.75. Rawat matched her by taking 3 wickets for 9 runs. With Deepti Sharma and Shafali Verma, who each took one wicket the two bowlers left Pakistan’s batting lineup with no answers.
A Chase that Needed Start
India needed only 56 runs to win and they did not give the match a chance to breathe. Harmanpreet Kaur finished unbeaten on 18 runs while Deepti Sharma added a 12 runs. The duo calmly guided India to victory without any trouble. Harmanpreet finished the match in a way lofting a ball over the bowler’s head for the winning runs thus closing out her 150th game as captain with a strong bowling performance and a decisive finish with the bat.
India reached 56 runs for 3 wickets in 8.4 overs leaving 68 balls unused.
What This Means
This was India’s consecutive win in the group stage and it confirms that India is the only unbeaten team coming out of Group A. India finishes at the top of the table and secures a spot in the semi‑finals. For Pakistan even though Fatima Sana spoke about focusing on ” cricket” after the match this defeat is one of the harshest Pakistan has faced. Pakistan will remember this match as the total in their history, against their fiercest rivals on the biggest stage of the tournament so far.
India moves on to the knock‑outs with momentum. Pakistan must regroup quickly if they want to reach the semi‑finals on their own.
Leave a Reply