India Women recorded a huge victory in the first T20 International at the Darren Sammy National Cricket Stadium in Gros Islets. The Indians delivered an all-round performance as they shone with both the bat and ball. West Indies Women were without their star captain Stafanie Taylor and Anisha Mohammed had to step in.
Batting first, India posted a record opening partnership of 143 runs in 15.3 overs. The teenager Shafali Verma and fit-again Smriti Mandhana, both were in brilliant touch and no West Indian bowler could trouble them. Verma hit six boundaries and four maximums in her 49-ball 73. Mandhana’s 67 included 11 fours and came off just 46 balls. Once the openers were dismissed, quick-fire cameos from the captain Harmanpreet Kaur (21 off 13) and Veda Krishnamurthy (15 off 7) took India to 185 in their 20 overs for the loss of four wickets. The wickets were shared between Shakera Selman and Anisha Mohammed.
Meanwhile, Shafali Verma became the youngest Indian ever to hit an international half-century. At 15 years and 285 days, Shafali scored her 73 surpassing Sachin Tendulkar’s made fifty at the age of 16 years and 213 days. In the overall list, this record belongs to Johmari Logtenberg of South Africa women cricket team who achieved it at the age of 14 years. This at the end of the match also got her the first T20I Player-of-the-Match award of her career.
The West Indies women chase never took off as they lost both their openers in the first 13 balls of their innings. Shemaine Campbelle top-scored for them with 33. But she batted with a strike rate below hundred which obviously impacted the game. No one from the rest of the line-up could score more than 15 and as a result, they never really gave any sense of threat to the visitors.. Radha Yadav bowled brilliantly to finish with a maiden and two wickets for just 10 runs in her allotted four overs. Shikha Pandey and Poonam Yadav also picked up two wickets each as West Indies laboured to 101 for the loss of nine wickets in their 20 overs.
Brief scores: India 185 for 4 (Verma 73, Mandhana 67, Mohammed 2-35, Selman 2-36) beat West Indies 101 for 9 (Campbelle 33, Radha Yadav 2-10, Pandey 2-22, Poonam Yadav 2-24) by 84 runs