Vikrant Shekhawat : Jul 19, 2024, 10:00 PM
IND W vs PAK W: The more the excitement about the clash between India and Pakistan, the more one-sided the result seems. Especially when it comes to any tournament, Indian players always dominate Pakistan. This is the third time in the last 40 days that such a feat has happened and all three times different teams have defeated Pakistan. On June 9, Rohit Sharma's team defeated Pakistan in the T20 World Cup. Then on July 13, a team of former players under the captaincy of Harbhajan Singh defeated Pakistan in the final of the World Championship of Legends. Now on July 19, the Indian women's team under the captaincy of Harmanpreet Kaur defeated Pakistan by 7 wickets in the first match of Asia Cup 2024.The 8th Women's Asia Cup T20 tournament started in Dambulla on Friday, July 19. The defending champion Indian team had to face Pakistan in its Group-A match on the very first day. Both the teams had clashed in the 2022 Asia Cup as well, where Pakistan defeated India by 3 runs. In such a situation, the score had to be settled. Team India did the same and that too in a tremendous manner. Team India, which is in great form, first bowled out Pakistan for just 108 runs and then achieved the target in 14.1 overs by losing only 3 wickets.Pooja-Deepti's havocPakistan captain Nida Dar won the toss and chose to bat first but her batsmen proved this decision wrong. Team India's star all-rounder Pooja Vastrakar (2/14) started destroying the Pakistani batting with bowling and sent both the openers back to the pavilion by the fourth over. From here the spinners worsened Pakistan's situation further. Shreyanka Patil (2/14) and Deepti Sharma (3/20) took wickets one by one. 3 wickets fell including a run out in a single over of Deepti. The Pakistani team collapsed for just 108 runs in 19.2 overs. For them, Sidra Amin scored the highest 25 runs, while Fatima Sana hit 22 runs in just 16 balls.Smriti-Shefali thrashedIn response, Team India started as expected. The pair of Smriti Mandhana and Shefali Verma, who performed brilliantly in the ODI, Test and T20 series against South Africa, once again made a wonderful partnership and ensured victory. Both of them put Pakistan out of the match by making a partnership of 85 runs in 9.3 overs for the first wicket. During this, Smriti also hit 5 fours in a single over. However, she could not complete her half-century and was out after scoring 45 runs. Shefali also returned to the pavilion after playing a good innings of 40 runs. Team India made a strong start to the tournament by achieving the target in 14.1 overs.