T20I women's WC: India beat Pak for 7 wickets in campaign opener

Cape Town: In the campaign opener for the Women's T20 World Cup 2023, India beat Pakistan for seven wickets at the Newlands Cricket Stadium here on Sunday. Indian women exhibited a splendid performance to outdo the arch-rivals in a chase at 19 overs and seven wickets to spare, IANS reported.

Indian victory was driven by the outstanding batting of Jemimah Rodrigues, who scored an unbeaten 53 from 38 balls and Richa Ghosh, 31 not out off 20.

For Pakistan, batters Bismah Maroof (68 not out off 55) and Ayesha Naseem (43 not out off) made outstanding efforts to take the team total to 149/4 in 20 overs. Both the batters made an unbeaten partnership of 81 in the putting a challenge for Indian women. Pakistan made 58 runs in the final overs to make the challenge harder for India, but India proved it otherwise.

Pakistan had won the toss and elected to bat first. But they lost their first wicket in the second over itself. But the Newland Stadium did not see many wickets falling yesterday from both of the teams.

Brief scores: Pakistan Women 149-4 in 20 Overs (Bismah Maroof 68 not out, Ayesha Naseem 43 not out; Radha Yadav 2/21) lost to India Women 151-3 in 19 Overs (Jemimah Rodrigues 53 not out, Richa Ghosh 31 not out; Nashra Sandhu 2/15) by seven wickets.