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India maintained their perfect record at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023 by securing a composed six-wicket victory against the West Indies in Cape Town.
Although India had a rocky start, losing three wickets and scoring only 43 runs while chasing a target of 118, the team’s captain, Harmanpreet Kaur, and the 19-year-old Richa Ghosh worked together to create a strong 72-run partnership, ensuring India’s victory.
While Kaur didn’t stay until the end of the chase, Ghosh did, hitting the winning boundary and leading India to victory with 11 balls remaining.
The Windies won the toss and elected to bat first, but their innings started poorly with Hayley Matthews getting out on the first ball of the second over, thanks to a slightly short delivery from Pooja Vastrakar.
The Windies captain’s wicket was the ideal start for India’s seamer, and although Stafanie Taylor and Shemaine Campbelle struggled initially, they started playing more aggressively, hitting some powerful shots.
Despite rotating their bowlers, India couldn’t claim another wicket until Campbelle fell to Deepti Sharma’s reverse sweep, followed by Taylor after a successful review by India captain Kaur. The Windies then lost two more wickets and were in danger of a low total, but Chedean Nation and Shabika Gajnabi helped stabilize the innings, although they couldn’t score many late runs.
India’s Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana made a solid start in their chase, despite edging a few shots, but Mandhana was dismissed by Karishma Ramharack, and Jemimah Rodrigues fell to Matthews. Verma was the next to go, hooking to Afy Fletcher, but India managed to stay ahead of the required rate.
Kaur and Ghosh showed great composure and wrapped up the win with Kaur falling four runs short of the target. Ghosh was particularly impressive, maintaining the excellent form she showed in India’s win at the ICC Under-19 Women’s T20 World Cup.
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