India vs West Indies, ICC Women’s World Cup 2017: India beat West Indies by 7 wickets

The Indian women’s won their second consecutive game on the trot after beating West Indies in the ICC Women’s World Cup. Set a target of 184 India chased down the total with more than seven overs to spare, thanks to a brilliant hundred from Smriti Mandhana. Deservedly she was awarded the player of the match award.

On a pretty dry looking wicket which showed signs of breaking up, Indian skipper Mithali Raj won the toss and put into bat the West Indies side got off to a decent start and at one stage were 69/2. But the Indians kept chipping away with wickets at regular intervals. Poonam Yadav, Harmanpreet Kumar and Deepti Sharma all bagged two wickets each. Ekta Bisht also grabbed one wicket.

It was the work of the slower Indian bowlers which did most of the damage and stemmed the flow of runs in check. In the middle overs, the opposition batsmen never got going. From 69/2 the Windies suddenly found themselves reeling at 146/8. A steady partnership by Shanel Daley (33) and Afy Fletcher (36) gave the West Indian bowlers a respectable total to bowl at.

When India came into bat they had a nervous start as they lost a couple of wickets within the first ten overs. But from thereon it was the Smriti Mandhana show. In an innings of 106 of 108 balls, she hit the bowlers to all parts of the ground. She was ably supported at the other end by skipper Mithali Raj who scored a stoic 46 of 88 deliveries. Together they saw India to safety and the game was won with more than seven overs to spare.

West Indies Women Squad:

Hayley Matthews, Felicia Walters, Stafanie Taylor (c), Deandra Dottin, Merissa Aguilleira (wk), Kyshona Knight, Chedean Nation, Shanel Daley, Afy Fletcher, Anisa Mohammed, Shamilia Connell

India Women Squad: Punam Raut, Smriti Mandhana, Mithali Raj (c), Harmanpreet Kaur, Deepti Sharma, Mona Meshram, Shikha Pandey, Jhulan Goswami, Ekta Bisht, Sushma Verma (wk), Poonam Yadav.