Indian women’s cricket team clinched their second consecutive victory in the ongoing 2018 ICC Women’s World T20 after beating Pakistan women in the Group B game at Providence, thanks to Mithali Raj’s responsible 56 runs. But the most talking point of the match was Indian women’s team started their chasing from directly 10/0 after they were awarded 10 penalty runs even before the beginning of their innings.
After winning the toss, Indian women’s skipper Harmanpreet Kaur decided to field first. Pakistan women managed to score 133/7 at the end of 20 overs but there were several notable incidents happened that changed the game scenario hugely.
During that innings, Pakistan batters Bismah Maroof and Nida Dar ran on the danger area of the pitch several times. Despite the on-field umpires warned the batters for several times, it happened again and finally, on the 17.1 overs of that innings, the Indian team was awarded the first five penalty runs for this reason.
The next incident happened at the very last moment of that same innings. After Sidra Nawaz and Nahida Khan successfully completed a single on the last ball of that innings, which was gone for the third umpire decision after a run-out appeal but Nahida successfully crossed the batting end crease before the Indian wicketkeeper hit the stumps. However, after the third umpire decision, the on-field umpires again awarded five penalty runs on India’s scorecard for the same reason – running down the danger area of the pitch – and this time that single was also taken away from the Pakistan team. Making of same mistakes several times, Pakistan cost a total of 11 runs in this game.
With the help of Maroof’s 53 runs and Dar’s 52 runs knocks, Pakistan managed to score 133/7 at the end of the first 20 overs. Among the Indian bowlers, Dayalan Hemalatha (2/34) and Poonam Yadav (2/22) both picked up two wickets each.
Starting their innings from 10/0, Indian openers Mithali Raj and the vice-captain Smriti Mandhana added 63 more runs (73/1) for the opening wicket that made easier for Indian women’s to win this game comfortably. Raj guided the team in the crucial time as she scored 56 runs off 47 balls (7 fours) and after her dismissal, it took just a few times for other batters to secure that victory by 7 wickets with one over still remaining as India chased down that target in 19 overs after losing three wickets. Mithali won the Player of the Match award for her brilliant batting.
