A nearly packed house under a cruel afternoon sun, music making the ground shake at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, immaculately coordinated Mexican waves punctuating the action on the field every now and then - the India vs Pakistan group stage clash in the Women’s T20 World Cup on Sunday was a spectator’s dream.
It’s funny then that the incredible atmosphere outside the green was paired by stunning shiftiness on it.
India huffed and puffed to a six-wicket win with seven balls to spare against a spirited Pakistan side to steady its campaign in the 100th T20I hosted by this venue. The path to a successful chase of just 106 was ridden with thorns on a slow wicket that made acceleration challenging.
After losing Smriti Mandhana early to left-arm spinner Sadia Iqbal, India tweaked its batting order once more with Jemimah Rodrigues bumped to one drop. Despite fielding in the sunniest part of the field for most part of the first innings, Jemimah was up and about, trying to breathe life into the scoring rate.
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However, the wicket progressively got lower and slower, with Pakistan’s spinners also refusing to give India an inch. At the other end, Shafali Verma, who was a bit sluggish between the wickets, opted to let her willow do the heavy lifting, slowly finding her rhythm and, by consequence, the boundary ropes.
Pakistan skipper Fatima Sana had other plans. In the 16th over, with India steadily crawling to the finish line, Sana removed Jemimah and Richa Ghosh off consecutive deliveries to turn up the heat on the Indian dugout.
Harmanpreet Kaur and Deepti Sharma got India close before a bizarre stretch to avoid a stumping saw the Indian captain retiring hurt with just two runs left to win the game. Sajeevan Sajana, in the line-up for Pooja Vastrakar who is carrying a niggle, is no stranger to finishing games in a ball, giving India its first points of the tournament with a four through mid-off.
Earlier, Sana won the toss and elected to bat in hot and humid conditions in Dubai. Pakistan’s start was cautious, understandable given India’s propensity to feed off the energy of one dismissal to trigger another.
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It was a slow track as well, with the batters struggling to find the gaps. Renuka Singh took out Gull Feroza in the first over while scoring pressure got the better of Sidra Amin in the fifth with Deepti Sharma cleaning her up.
Arundhati Reddy’s dubious luck with dropped catches continued as Asha Sobhana dropped Muneeba Ali – a sitter at short fine leg in the 7th over – and Fatima Sana at short third man in the 13th over.
Coach Amol Muzumdar was seen shrugging in disappointment but Asha found consolation coming her way from her teammates. Arundhati still finished as the pick of the Indian bowling pack with three scalps - Omaima Sohail, Aliya Riaz and then Nida Dar- giving away just 19 runs.
Despite her short stay at the crease, Sana looked most at ease, effortless with her placement and running between the wickets. Barring her, Pakistan struggled to break free from India’s spin web spun by Shreyanka Patil, Asha and Deepti.
The batting performance should be a cause for concern when the Pakistan think tank assembles for a review later. Partnerships were difficult to stitch, running between the wickets in parts looked laborious and only one batter looked able to accelerate from the get go.
India will rest easy with a win in the bag but the oxygen masks are not off just yet. Given that the target was a modest 106, Harmanpreet and Co. needed to chase it down in a little over 11 overs to help its Net Run Rate above water. Given the testing conditions and a knockouts bid that’s at stake, the Women in Blue will be relieved to just seal the win and work their way up from there.
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