India produced a clinical performance even without opener Smriti Mandhana to crush Pakistan by 7 wickets in their opening Group 2 game at the Women's T20 World Cup 2023 in Cape Town on Sunday.
The Women in Blue registered their highest successful run chase in T20 World Cup history as Jemimah Rodrigues and Richa Ghosh led the 150-run chase with their unroken 58-run partnership which provided the much-needed boost towards the end stages of the match.
Rodrigues finished the proceedings with a boundary to bring up her maiden T20I fifty and ended up with her highest score of 53 off 38 balls which included 8 boundaries while Ghosh remained unbeaten on 31 off 20 balls with five fours.
The Rodrigues-Ghosh show in Cape Town
The duo joined the chase with India in a spot of bother at 93 for 3 after the wicket of captain Harmanpree Kaur (16) fell in the 14th over.
They took the attack to the opposition after settling in the crease and made Pakistan chase leather for the next five overs and eventually crossed the finish line in the 19th over to complete the second highest successfull run chase of all time in this tournament's history.
Jemi at a loss for words post match
"I actually don't know what to say. I knew we had to build partnerships. I knew if we take it deep we will win. Richa and I had a good partnership against Bangladesh too. This innings means a lot to me. Hadn't been getting scores for a long time," Rodrigues said after being adjudged Player of the Match.
Earlier, Pakistan had managed to post their highest total against India in T20Is after captain Bismah Maroof led the way with the bat for the Women in Green.
Pak skipper Maroof leads from the front
Maroof scored 68 not out off 55 balls with 7 boundaries and added 81 runs with teammate Ayesha Neesham, who was unbeaten on 43 off 25 balls with two fours and a couple of sixes.
Their fifth-wicket partnership helped Pakistan recover from 4 for 68 and reach 149 for 4 in 20 overs after opting to bat first.
Radha Yadav bagged a couple of wickets for India while Deepti Sharma and Pooja Vastrakar took one each.
Maroof blames Pak's bowling mistakes
"We were good at many times, but we did some mistakes as a bowling unit. Lot of learnings, planning to be better next game. (Batting innings of Pakistan) The roles we have given to the girls, they played well. The role Ayesha had was crucial at the time," Maroof said after the game.
India will play their next match against the West Indies at the same venue on February 15. India trails England in Group 2 with both teams registering one win each in their opening games.
