Pakistan Women vs India Women Match 6 Full Commentary

Welcome back for Pakistan's reply. Harmanpreet Kaur leads her troops out onto the park. It will be the left-hand, right-hand combination of Muneeba Ali and Gull Feroza to open the innings for Pakistan. Arundhati Reddy will start with the new ball for India. Richa Ghosh is standing up to the stumps. Muneeba is on strike. Let's go...

... THE RUN CHASE ..

Looking ahead - A challenging chase awaits Pakistan, and a lot will depend on how they begin. The surface has played on the slower side, on which India, with their varied bowling attack, will be confident enough of getting the job done. Either way, it promises to be an entertaining second half of the game, so stick around.

A quick word with Pakistan's head coach - Wahab Riaz says that they should have restricted India under 160 with the way we started, and might have given 10-15 runs extra at the end. Adds that a few dropped catches were where they lost the momentum, and the message was clear to just stick to the plans. Mentions that he is feeling confident of the team's chances in this chase, and they just need to play one ball at a time. Believes they can chase this with a couple of overs left.

Pakistan's strong start was undone late - After losing the toss, Pakistan were disciplined with the ball early on and were rewarded with a couple of wickets in the Powerplay. Put on the back foot, Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur absorbed the pressure before gradually settling into their innings. Mandhana was the more dominant of the two during their 91-run partnership and was handed reprieves along the way as Pakistan dropped her two catches. Having removed both set batters heading into the death overs, Pakistan had a genuine opportunity to limit the damage. However, Richa Ghosh came through for India with an aggressive cameo as Pakistan were made to pay for the slow over rate in the last two overs.

India get the desired finish - 38 runs off the last 2 overs have powered India to 170, and they will take it, given the kind of start they had to their innings. Pakistan started well but could not close out the innings they would have liked, and a stiff task awaits them with the bat.

IS THAT OUT? Fatima Sana has opted for a review on the final ball of this innings as she feels that she has managed to trap Shreyanka Patil in front while trying the reverse hit. The replay shows that the ball has bumped into the gloves of Shreyanka Patil, and it will be a single to Patil.

Shreyanka Patil walks out to face the last delivery of the Indian innings, provided it is a legal one.

This is exactly the kind of over India wanted, and Pakistan needed to avoid. India will be feeling the injection of momentum with them. How many can they add in the final over? Fatima Sana will be bowling it.

Just 3 runs from the 18th over and no boundaries in the last 3 overs for India Women. Pakistan Women are doing really well to keep India Women in touching distance. Pakistan Women have been handed a slow over rate penalty, and they'll be left with just 3 fielders outside the inner circle for the last 2 overs. Tasmia Rubab replaces Fatima Sana in the attack.

That's a wrap - A thoroughly entertaining Sunday comes to an end. The day began with Bangladesh Women defeating the Dutch. Though to their credit, the Netherlands did challenge their counterparts on their World Cup debut. Followed by that, India crushed Pakistan by 64 runs to grab crucial points and set their sails nicely. Moving forward, there's a day's break and action will resume on 16th June, Tuesday, with another exciting double-header. New Zealand Women take on Sri Lanka Women, followed by England Women going up against Ireland Women. Both games are scheduled to be played in Southampton, and the first ball of the first game will be bowled at 1.30 pm GMT. So do join us early for the build-up as well. Until then, cheers!

Blue outshines Green - A statement win in the end for the Indians, and they have announced themselves as true contenders. Contributions came from every department, though they would reflect on improving their fielding moving forward and also their Powerplay bowling. They travel to Leeds for their next game against the Netherlands. As for Pakistan Women, batting has been a huge weak link, and it continues to be one. They will have to regather themselves for their next assignment against South Africa Women here in Birmingham. Both games will be played on Wednesday, 17th June.

The victorious skipper of India - Harmanpreet Kaur says she is really happy with the win and thanks the Indian fans who turned up to cheer them. Kaur mentions that she is really happy with the way they batted, as the pitch was a good one and after being under pressure, they did well to get through that phase and score big. She credits Richa for her power-striking by saying she is a quality act and can win the game from any situation. Kaur also adds that she is really happy with the way the team performed with the ball and in the field as well. Kaur reckons that every game is important and today's win will help them go ahead against South Africa and Australia.

The captain of Pakistan - Fatima Sana says that she is disappointed with their batting performance and says the batters need to step up. However, she stresses that there is still a long way to go in the tournament, and the side will look to learn from the setback. Reflecting on the bowling effort, she feels they were in a good position for the first 15 overs, but let things slip towards the end by conceding too many runs. She also points out that the over-rate penalty hurt them. Fatima also rues the dropped catches, acknowledging that catches win matches and admitting it was unfortunate that even the senior players put down opportunities. On a positive note, she feels her side won the Powerplay battle with both bat and ball, but says the batting collapse that followed ultimately cost them the game.

... Let's hear it from the two captains ...

Mandhana and Ghosh pushed India to a competitive score - Smriti Mandhana's classy half-century and a late blitz from Richa Ghosh propelled India to 170. The Powerplay belonged to Pakistan, who removed Shafali Verma and Jemimah Rodrigues cheaply to leave India tottering at 18/2. From there, Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur turned things around with a 91-run stand for the third wicket. Mandhana led the charge, surviving two reprieves on 27 and 55 before going on to a fluent fifty, though Harmanpreet fell short of converting her start. Kaur's wicket could have triggered a slide, but Ghosh's explosive 34 off 17 took India to an above-par total, with 38 runs flowing in the final two overs alone. For Pakistan, the missed chances will sting most.

Spin proved to be the crucial currency - Pakistan were pushed into a rebuild, with the run rate taking a considerable dip. Muneeba Ali, well settled, looked to anchor one end, but she was starved of the strike for long periods and was eventually run out. The hammer blow followed soon after, as Shafali Verma had Fatima Sana dismissed for a duck to leave Pakistan reeling at 77/5. The spin choke through the middle overs was so effective that everything came crashing down from there, with India making sure no partnership of substance was ever allowed to flourish.

Promising start turned into a procession - The first six overs made for a story of contrasts. Where India had stumbled to 38/2 in their innings, Pakistan raced to a solid 52/1, their highest Powerplay score against India in T20Is and exactly the platform they needed to chase down a stiff total. They lost Gull Feroza early, but a string of loose deliveries from the Indian bowlers let Pakistan cruise along, with Muneeba Ali doing most of the damage. India were critically sloppy in the field too in the early stages of the chase, fluffing a few chances. But on a used pitch, hosting its third game in three days and turning slow, the spin duo of Deepti and Charani made the difference, picking up crucial wickets to reduce Pakistan from 38/0 to 58/3.

PLAYER OF THE MATCH - Without a doubt, Deepti Sharma wins the award for her outstanding bowling effort. She finished with career best figures, reading 5/10 in 4 overs and also scored a run out in the field. Deepti says that she is very grateful and she loves bowling on such a track, and thanks God for helping her time and again. She mentions that the pitch was offering a bit of turn, and she was intentionally looking to bowl slow so that she could extract that spin on offer, and it worked in her favour. Sharma adds that they get support anywhere they go and play, and says this is what keeps them going.

India crush Pakistan in Birmingham - A rather one-sided affair in the end as the Women in Blue hand a deflating defeat to their arch-rivals. Coming into this game, 156 was Pakistan's highest successful T20I run chase, so the task ahead was always going to be a steep one, and they folded under the pressure of the big occasion. This is India's seventh win over Pakistan in the Women's T20 World Cups, and they just keep extending their dominance over their neighbours.

Sadia Iqbal is the last batter in.

Tasmia Rubab walks out at 10 for Pakistan Women.

Deepti Sharma (3-0-8-2) to bowl out here. 67 runs are needed off the last 4 overs.

End of an excellent spell from Sree Charani as she ends with figures of 4-0-21-3.

Nashra Sundhu is the next batter in for Pakistan Women.