Fiery spells from Shree Charani and Prema Rawat helped India dominate arch-rivals Pakistan, skittling them out for just 55 runs in their final league-stage women’s Asia Cup clash at Dubai on Saturday.
After Pakistan opted to bat first, openers Muneeba Ali and Shawaal Zulfiqar stitched a 27-run stand, but from there, it was a slow-burning punishment unleashed on Pakistani batters, who were skittled out for just 55 in 18.1 overs.
Pakistan Innings Unravels
After Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat first, Muneeba Ali and Shawaal Zulfiqar were cautious in the start, with Zulfiqar taking two overs to find the boundary. In the third over, Pratika Rawal dropped a sitter off Kranti Gaud’s bowling, giving Muneeba Ali a lifeline.
The duo managed to get a boundary each, but Shafali Varma clean bowled Muneeba for a 15-ball 13. Pakistan was 27/1 in 4.3 overs.
Spinners Trigger Collapse
The next over bowled by Shree Charani saw her get two wickets, with Gull Feroza caught by Nandini Sharma at backward point for a three-ball duck and then Zulfiqar trapped lbw for a run-a-ball 14 to end the over. Pakistan was 29/3 in six overs.
Spin continued to dominate the proceedings, with Shree getting her third wicket in the eighth over, removing Ayesha Zafar (2), while Prema Rawat got the wicket of Ayesha Zafar (3), and Deepti Sharma got the wicket of skipper Fatima Sana for a seven-ball duck. Pakistan was down and out at 35/6 in 9.1 overs.
Halfway through, Pakistan was 36/6, with Eyman Fatima (0*) and Umm-e-Hani (1*) unbeaten. Pakistan’s downslide continued, as Eyman Fatima (5) was run out by Bharti Fulmali and Deepti Sharma, sinking to 45/7 in 13.1 overs.
Prema Rawat got some success, as she added two more wickets to her tally, removing Umm-e-Hani (6) and Umm-e-Hani (0), sinking Pakistan to 54/9 in 16.3 overs. Deepti Sharma got the final wicket, removing Tuba Hassan for nine in 16 balls, Pakistan was skittled out for 55 in 18.1 overs.
Charani, Prema Shine with the Ball
Charani (3/7) and Prema (3/9) were exceptional in their four-over spells, with Deepti getting two wickets and Shafali getting one.