Women’s T20 World Cup: Deepti Sharma stars as India defeat West Indies by six wickets

India continued their fine start to the Women’s T20 World Cup campaign in South Africa as they defeated West Indies by six wickets on Wednesday.

Deepti Sharma was the star for India on the day as she picked up three wickets to reach a new landmark and finished with figures of 15 for three in her four overs.

West Indies had won the toss on the day and elected to bat first in Newlands, Cape Town.

West Indies got off to a disastrous start as they lost captain Hayley Matthews in the second over as Pooja Vastrakar got her wicket. However, Campbelle and Taylor quickly put the pressure back on the Indian team with a fine partnership of 73 runs.

Taylor scored a 40-ball 42 with her knock consisting of six boundaries. The partnership was broken by Deepti Sharma in the 14th over as she got rid of Campbelle for 30 runs. The Indian all-rounder then dismissed Taylor in the same over as she put the control of the game back into the hands of India.

Chinelle Henry was the next to fall after being run out by the duo of Mandhana and Ghosh as the Windies innings started to crumble. Shabika Gajnabi and Chedean Nation brought back some control to the innings but the scoring rate had gone down massively as the Indian bowlers tightened the screws on their opponents.

Renuka Singh then dismissed Gajnabi in the nineteenth over before Deepti Sharma took her third wicket in the very next over and became the first Indian bowler to reach 100 wickets in T20Is. The West Indies innings came to an end at 118 for six in their 20 overs.

The Indian innings was off to a blistering start as Shafali Verma scored 12 runs in the first over to put India in a commanding position. Mandhana, however, was struggling to get into a rhythm at the other end and her stay was ended when she stepped down the track to Karishma Ramharack and was stumped.

Last game’s star, Jemimah Rodrigues, also had a short stay at the crease as Matthews dismissed her. Ramharack then got the important wicket of Verma as India were in a spot of bother at 43 for three in 7.1 overs.

Richa Ghosh and captain Harmanpreet then stabilized the innings and started to find the gaps and score important boundaries as well. The duo ensured that there weren’t anymore stumbles along the way and put on a solid partnership.

The skipper was finally dismissed in the 18th over for 33 runs but Ghosh ensured that the job was done by scoring the winning runs with 11 balls to spare. Ghosh scored 44 off 32 balls in the end and remained unbeaten.

India will next face England on 18th February in their next Pool B match.