Dambulla, July 19: Deepti Sharma picked 3-20, while Renuka Singh Thakur, Pooja Vastrakar and Shreyanka Patil took two wickets each to set up India’s comfortable seven-wicket win over Pakistan and begin their Women’s T20 Asia Cup title defence on a winning note at the Rangiri Dambulla International Cricket Stadium here on Friday.

On a dry pitch, the bowlers shone in a top-notch bowling performance for India as they bowled out Pakistan for a modest 108. In reply, Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana shared an 85-run opening stand off just 57 balls and propelled India to chase down the total effortlessly. Shafali (45) and Smriti (40) feasted on loose bowling from Pakistan and hit boundaries aplenty to ensure India chased down the total with seven wickets in hand and 35 balls remaining. The Power-play phase summed up the result: Pakistan lost three wickets, while India didn’t lose any.

Chasing 109, Shafali began by whipping Sadia Iqbal for a four through a deep backward square leg fence, while Smriti started with an easy flick off Fatima Sana for a boundary. Shafali pulled and cut Sadia for two easy boundaries, before welcoming Nida Dar with a sweep through square-leg for four.

Smriti went on the backfoot to punch wide of cover-point and pick a boundary, followed by Shafali lofting and leaning forward to unleash a copybook straight drive off Fatima for a brace of fours. Smriti welcomed Tuba Hassan with a punch and pull to take two fours, followed by Shafali sweeping powerfully for a six as India ended the Power-play at 57/0. Tuba came under further attack in the eighth over as Smriti swept her for four more, followed by her lofting twice, paddling and flicking with immaculate ease to take four more boundaries as 21 runs came off the over. From there, the lone academic interest in the game was who would reach their half-century first.

But Smriti fell five runs short of her fifty when she didn’t get the elevation on a lofted shot and was caught by mid-wicket taking the catch in front of her face. Dayalan Hemalatha, back at number three, hit a hat-trick of boundaries off Nashra Sandhu.

Like Smriti, Shafali didn’t reach her fifty as Syeda Aroob Shah castled her through the gate for 40. Nashra came back to have Hemalatha mistime her loft and be caught at cover-point. Harmanpreet Kaur and Jemimah Rodrigues knocked off the remaining runs to get India’s campaign off to a winning start.

Earlier, Deepti bowled well in the middle overs to be the pick of India’s bowlers. For Pakistan, it was a disappointing batting performance where they struggled to get and maintain a steady tempo in their innings, resulting in only four batters touching double figures. The lack of partnerships and being unable to rotate strike often meant they were unable to break free from the pressure imposed by the Indian bowlers, as Pakistan lost their last six wickets for 47 runs.

Electing to bat first, Pakistan suffered an early jolt when Gull Feroza’s top edge on the pull was caught by mid-on off Pooja. The all-rounder returned in the fourth over to claim Muneeba Ali with another short ball which she miscued to cover.

Post the Power-play, there was no end to Pakistan’s woes as Shreyanka got a loopy off-break to dip in and take the leading edge off Aliya Riaz’s flick to mid-wicket. After Nida Dar holed out to long-on off Deepti, things went from bad to worse for Pakistan as Renuka had Sidra Amin slicing to backward point and Iram Javed trapped lbw on consecutive deliveries.

Tuba stepped up to hit three boundaries in her 19-ball 22, before slicing off Deepti to backward point in the 18th over, followed by the off-spinner having Nashra nicking behind after Aroob was run out.

Fatima took Pakistan past the 100-run mark by slog-sweeping Radha Yadav for a brace of sixes. But Shreyanka ended Pakistan’s innings by castling Sadia as they folded up for 108 with four balls left unused.

Brief scores:

Pakistan 108 all out in 19.2 overs (Sidra Amin 25; Deepti Sharma 3-20, Renuka Singh Thakur 2-14) lost to India 112/3 in 14.1 overs (Smriti Mandhana 45, Shafali Verma 40; Syeda Aroob Shah 2-9, Nashra Sandhu 1-20) by seven wickets

--IANS

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