India defeated Pakistan by six wickets to record their first victory in the Women’s T20 World Cup 2024. They still need to accomplish a lot, though, to get to the semi-finals.
India defeated Pakistan by six wickets in their second encounter on Sunday, October 6, at Dubai International Cricket Stadium, to finally open their account in the Women’s T20 World Cup 2024. Pakistan chose to bat first and in their allotted 20 overs, they scored 105/8, with Nida Dar top-scoring with an innings of 28 (34).
India responded by reaching the mark in 18.5 overs with two strong batting performances from skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (29* off 24) and Shafali Verma (32 off 35). Arundhati Reddy achieved her career-best figures of 3/19 in four overs, earning her the title of Player of the Match.
With one win from two games and a net run rate of -1.217, India’s victory has placed them in fourth place among the five teams in the group. Their net run rate has improved just a little from -2.90 to -1.217 in the time it took to win against Pakistan.
India needed to chase the target down in 11 overs to raise their net run rate to +0.084 to turn it into a positive figure. But they lost the chance as their squad got off to a cautious start thanks to openers Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana (7 off 16).
In Group A, India has the second-worst NRR
Therefore, India continues to have the lowest run rate among the winning sides in Group A, with Pakistan (+0.555), New Zealand (+2.900), and Australia (+1.908) sitting above them. The third match between the Harmanpreet Kaur-led team and Sri Lanka will take place at Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Wednesday, October 9.
The Asia Cup Champions have been thoroughly outclassed by Australia and Pakistan and have failed to record a victory in the competition. Before playing the reigning champions Australia in their last match on October 13, the Women in Blue will badly need to defeat Sri Lanka by a significant margin in order to turn their net run rate positive.
India will have to rely on New Zealand to defeat Australia and win every match if they can’t raise their net run rate in the upcoming encounter. If India wins its next two matches against Australia and Sri Lanka, they will go straight to the semi-finals in this scenario. To advance in the competition, India will need to outscore both Australia and New Zealand in terms of net run rate, provided that Australia wins their match against them. As a result, they must win their upcoming match, which could determine their tournament destiny.
