INDIA maintained their 100% start to the Women’s World Cup on Sunday with a comfortable 88-run win over rivals, Pakistan, in Colombo.
Harleen Deol top-scored with 46 and Richa Ghosh smashed an unbeaten 35 from 20 balls late on to lift India up to 247 in an innings that saw numerous batters make starts but fail to kick on.
Seamer Diana Baig took 4-69 as Pakistan bowled India out for the first time in a women’s ODI from the last ball of the innings but a first win still eludes them.
(Scores: India 247 (50 overs): Deol 46 (65); Baig 4-69
Pakistan 159 (43 overs): Amin 81 (106); Goud 3-20))
After slipping to 26-3 in the chase, Pakistan briefly rallied as Sidra Amin – who went on to make 81 from 105 balls after being dropped three times – and Natalia Pervaiz put on 69 for the fourth wicket.
But India, led by Kranti Goud’s 3-20, stuck to their task to bowl Pakistan out for 159 in the 43rd over and move top of the group table.
As is so often the case when India and Pakistan meet, though, there was far more to it, with controversy and confusion peppered throughout the day…
Run-out controversy
Perhaps the biggest talking point came from an incident early in Pakistan’s innings when opener Muneeba Ali was controversially run out.
The left-hander was struck on the pad by Goud and as the India bowler appealed unsuccessfully for lbw, Deepti Sharma collected the loose ball and threw at the stumps.
She hit but replays showed Muneeba had grounded her bat before the ball was even in the picture and a ‘not out’ decision from the third umpire Kerrin Klaaste went up on the big screen in the ground.
However, before the game restarted, the decision was looked at again and it transpired that when the ball hit the stumps and dislodged the bails, Muneeba had lifted her bat and was still stood out of her crease.
While the batter had already grounded her bat and was not trying to sneak a single, the third umpire changed her decision to ‘out’ and despite Pakistan protests, which saw captain Fatima Sana tell her batter not to leave the field for a short time, Muneeba had to go.
In a further twist, had India simply reviewed the lbw decision, the whole controversy would have been avoided because ball-tracking showed Muneeba was plumb lbw.(BBC Sport)