Cape Town, Feb 15: Captain Harmanpreet Kaur and Richa Ghosh showed grit and determination with the bat to help India clinch 6 wicket win over West Indies in the ongoing ICC Womens T20 World Cup 2023 here at Newlands in Cape Town on Wednesday.
Harmanpreet played a gritty knock of 33 while Richa scored an unbeaten 44. For West Indies, Karishma Ramharack bagged two wickets while captain Hayley Matthews and Chinelle Henry claimed one each.
Chasing 119, India got off to a lightning start, inspired by the aggression of Shafali Verma, which saw the opener hammering West Indies bowlers all around the ground. The duo of Shafali and Smriti Mandhana racked up 31 runs in just 3 overs of the play. However, Smriti Mandhana was the first wicket to fall, stumped off the bowling of Karishma Ramharack, and Jemimah Rodrigues joined her back in the pavilion after being sharply caught and bowled by Hayley Matthews
Despite losing two wickets India looked in a solid position with captain Harmanpreet Kaur slamming boundaries at regular intervals.
Shafali’s onslaught came to an abrupt end when she was caught for 28 from 23 balls, leaving captain Harmanpreet Kaur and Richa Ghosh out in the middle with work still to do. But the game was paused for lengthy and concerning treatment for West Indies veteran Stafanie Taylor, who appeared to suffer a recurrence of a back injury in the field.
Harmanpreet continued the onslaught as she slammed Afy Fletcher for back-to-back two fours in the 9th over of the game.
With needing just 4 runs to win in 14 balls India lost the wicket of Harmanpreet. India captain played a gritty knock of 33 off 42 deliveries. Richa slammed a stunning winning four of Shamilia Connell’s delivery to take India home with 6 wicket victory over West Indies.
Brief scores: West Indies 118/6 (Stafanie Taylor 42, Shemaine Campbelle 30; Deepti Sharma 3-15) vs India 119/4 (Richa Ghosh 44*, Harmanpreet Kaur 33; Karishma Ramharack 2-14). (ANI)
