India women got off to a brilliant start in their pursuit to win the first ICC Women's T20 World Cup with a dominant win over arch-rivals Pakistan in the first match on Sunday, February 12 at Newlands in Cape Town. Chasing 150 to win, India achieved the target with seven wickets in hand and with 6 balls left. Jemimah Rodrigues starred for India with the bat as thanks to her 38-ball 53, Women in Blue were able to go past the winning mark. Her knock included 8 fours and was played with a healthy strike rate of 139.47. Deservingly, she won the Player of the Match award.
After the match, players from both the sides interacted with each other, sharing a laugh while they also exchanged jerseys. It made for a great video which was shared by the Pakistan Cricket Twitter handle.
Watch the India and Pakistan players sharing a laugh after the match below:
Players' interactions after the #INDvPAK match at Newlands ____#BackOurGirls | #T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/Yc4YcKxV2v
— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) February 13, 2023
Earlier, after winning the toss, Pakistan women scored 149 for 4 in 20 overs. Captain Bismah Maroof led from the front, scoring 68 off 55 balls that included 7 boundaries. Ayesha Naseem too played a good hand, scoring 43 off just 25 balls taking Pakistan to their highest total ever in World Cups and also their highest against India in this format.
For India, Radha Yadav picked up two wickets while Deepti Sharma and Pooja Vastrakar finished with one wicket each.
India's next match is against West Indies on February 15th. Team India players have a few days rest before their next match and they will be spending the Monday watching TV to see what price they get at the first-ever Women' IPL Auction 2023.
Skipper Harmanpreet wants to keep working hard in the nets ahead of the Windies game as she does not want the players to take any team lightly. "Win against Pakistan is always special. Good game, crowd was fantastic, got good support. We would love to spend some time in the nets and sort out the things we didn't do well today before the West Indies game. It's important to keep doing the right things in the nets too," said Harmanpreet after the match.
