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India on Sunday registered a 13th victory in 16 T20 encounters with old rivals Pakistan in the Women’s World Cup as former champions West Indies beat Scotland.
Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur produced a steely 29 to lead her team to a scrappy six-wicket victory.
West Indies, the 2016 champions, cruised past Scotland, also by six wickets with 50 balls to spare.
Set 106 to win after restricting Pakistan to 105-8 in their 20 overs, India looked comfortable at 61-1. But two wickets in two balls from Pakistan captain Fatima Sana opened the door before Kaur took her team to the brink of victory.
However, as India fell two runs short, they slipped and appeared to twist their neck, leaving the field unbeaten on 29 from 24 balls.
Sajeevan Sajana hit the winning runs off the very next delivery as India closed on 108-4, winning with seven balls to spare.
“We were very disciplined and followed the plans,” said India’s Smriti Mandhana. “On the field we were very good. A better start with the bat would have been good, but we will get this victory.”
Nida Dar top-scored for Pakistan with 28 from 34 balls, but there was little else to applaud after Sana won the toss and elected to bat on a wicket which produced an awkward bounce.
“We were not up to the task with the bat. We were 10-15 runs short,” Sana said.
All Indian bowlers contributed, with Arundhati Reddy having the most success removing Omaima Sohail (3) and Aliya Riaz (4) in the middle order before bowling Dar flawlessly in the final over to finish with 3-19 from her four overs.
After losing their opening match against New Zealand, it was a well-deserved victory for India in Group A.
They remain fourth in the group, with Pakistan just ahead of them in terms of net rate.
– ‘Firepower’ –
West Indies recovered from their opening 10-wicket rout against South Africa to easily defeat Scotland.
The Scots struggled to reach 99-8 in their 20 overs before West Indies chased down their target with 50 balls remaining, securing victory, an impressive increase in their net run rate and top spot in Group B.
Qiana Joseph top-scored with 31 from 18 balls, hitting three fours and a six.
Deandra Dottin hit two sixes in her unbeaten 28 off 15 balls while sharing an unbroken fifth-wicket stand of 42 with player of the match Chinelle Henry.
Henry made a quick 18 off 10 balls, including two fours and a six, after returning figures of 1-10 from four overs of fast bowling.
“We did pretty well with the ball, limiting boundaries,” West Indies captain Hayley Matthews said.
“We put ourselves in a safe position and then we thought about the net run rate and we did it.”
Electing to bat first, skippers Kathryn Bryce (25) and Ailsa Lister (26) had attempted to steady the ship for Scotland with a 46-run partnership for the third wicket after both openers were back in the pavilion with only 13 on the board.
However, Bryce and Lister fell to 37-year-old Afy Fletcher, who also dismissed Priyanaz Chatterji for a first-ball duck as the Scots’ middle order collapsed.
“With the firepower they have, it was tricky,” Bryce admitted.
“We didn’t get a good start, we didn’t get any momentum in the middle.”
Matthews had opener Saskia Horley caught at midwicket by Dottin in the second over to reach 100 wickets in international T20 cricket.
Scotland have now lost their opening two World Cup matches after being trailed by 16 points to Bangladesh on Thursday.
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