Agencies
Dubai
India beat Pakistan by six wickets for their first win of the Women’s T20 World Cup on Sunday, but remain in a precarious position in the group-stage table because of their puzzling approach with the bat, reports BBC.com/sport.
A heavy defeat by New Zealand saw India’s net run-rate plummet, but they still took 18.5 overs to chase just 106 against their rivals.
Fatima Sana’s two wickets in two balls in the 16th over, with 26 runs still needed, kept Pakistan in the hunt.
Captain Harmanpreet Kaur showed composure with 29 from 24 balls, though she had to retire hurt with two runs required, leaving Sajeevan Sajana to hit the winning runs from her first ball.
Opener Shafali Verma made 32 from 35 balls and Jemimah Rodrigues added 23 from 28.
Bowlers dominated in both innings, with no batter looking particularly comfortable in timing the ball as seamer Arundhati Reddy starred with 3-19 for India.
Nida Dar top-scored with 28 from 34 balls for Pakistan but they lost wickets regularly.
In contrast, India managed to keep wickets in hand, which made their approach even more perplexing as they crawled to 25-1 after the six-over powerplay without hitting a boundary.
But they are off the mark and though they will be favourites in their next match against Sri Lanka on Wednesday, are still under huge pressure to reach the semi-finals with defending champions Australia still to come in their group.
WI beat Scotland
Later, Scotland suffered their second defeat as West Indies strolled to a six-wicket win in Dubai. In another low-scoring encounter, Scotland were restricted to just 99-8 from their 20 overs, with West Indies reaching their target in 11.4 overs.
Deandra Dottin, who came out of retirement to play in the tournament, rolled back the years with an explosive 28 not out from 15 balls and sealed the dominant win in style with a six.
Scores: India 108 for 4 (Shafali 32, Harmanpreet 29*, Sana 2-23) beat Pakistan105 for 8 (Dar 28, Reddy 3-19, Patil 2-12) by six wickets; West Indies 101 for 4 (Joseph 31, Dottin 28*, Bell 2-18) beat Scotland 99 for 8 (Lister 26, Fletcher 3-22) by six wickets.
