ICC Women’s World Cup 2017: India steamroll past West Indies
Highlights:
- India defeated West Indies by 7 wickets
- Smriti Mandhana was adjured the man of the match
- India next take on Pakistan on July 2
Chasing a modest total of 184, India rode high on the back of a brilliant century by Smriti Madhana to comfortably win by 7 wickets against West Indies at County Ground, Taunton. Chasing a modest target India won with as many as 45 balls to spare, courtesy another superlative performance from the left-handed opener Mandhana who scored an awe-inspiring 106.With this India got their second win from as many matches and moved on to 4 points.
Batting first, West Indies were pegged back by a superlative bowling performance by the Indian bowling unit. The West Indian batting line-up collapsed like flies as they lost 6 wickets even before reaching the 100 run mark. Opener Hayley Matthews (43) and some explosive batting by Afy Fletcher (36) saved West Indies the blushes as they whimpered to a total of 183.Deepti Sharma, Poonam Yadav, and Harampreet Kaur each picked up a brace.
Chasing a below par total, India were jolted as West Indies picked up two quick wickets. India lost Punam Raut in the very first over for a duck, however, Mandhana and Indian skipper Mithali Raj(46) steadied the innings. The 20-year-old opener Mandhana carried her bat through the innings to make sure that India did not mess up the run chase. It was another superb performance by the Indian opener who has taken this tournament by storm, having scored a match-winning knock of 90 in the first match also. Winning the man of the match, Madhana has clearly set her claim on the player of the tournament award as well if she continues her fine run.
“Very pleased with the way the girls responded with crucial run outs even though there were a couple of lapses in the field (drops). A very good knock from Mandhana. I was hoping the seamers would utilize the conditions after we chose to bowl. But maybe it wasn’t their day and the spinners did exceptionally well to bring us back,” Indian Skipper Mithali Raj said.
India takes on nemesis Pakistan on July 2 and will be looking to continue their unbeatable run with another dominant performance.
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