Dubai, Oct 6: Seam-bowling all-rounder Arundhati Reddy picked her career-best figures of 3-19 while opener Shafali Verma top-scored with 32 as India beat Pakistan by six wickets to get their first win of the 2024 Women’s T20 World Cup at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday.

On a slow and low pitch, with the venue hosting its 100th T20I game, India put in a much-improved effort with the ball after their 58-run thrashing at the hands of New Zealand by bowling tighter lines and not giving any freebies to Pakistan. Apart from Arundhati’s impressive spell, Shreyanka Patil also shined with 2-12 to set the base for India’s win.

At one point, Pakistan were in danger of not reaching three figures, before lower-order contributions, led by Nida Dar’s 28, helped them get past 100 in an innings where they played 58 dot balls.

In reply, India were expected to complete the chase in a jiffy, with an eye to boost their net run rate. But with Pakistan being disciplined with their bowling, India could amass only 25/1 in power-play and never showed urgency to take risks to finish the chase quickly. Shafali, Jemimah Rodrigues (23) and Harmanpreet Kaur (29) ensured India’s chase, which saw only four boundaries being hit, was completed with seven balls to spare.

Renuka Singh Thakur brought India the first breakthrough by castling Gull Feroza with a big inswinger in the opening over. Muneeba Ali and Sidra Amin hit three boundaries collectively in a 24-run stand before the latter went too early on a sweep off Deepti Sharma and got a deflection off her glove onto the stumps.

With pressure building on Pakistan, Omaima Sohail tried to break free by hitting Arundhati down the ground but chipped to mid-off. Muneeba, dropped by Asha Sobhana on 14, danced down the pitch but was deceived by a short ball from Shreyanka, which spun past her and was easily stumped from behind by Richa Ghosh.

Arundhati had her second wicket when her sharp nip-backer trapped Aliya Riaz lbw and could have got another scalp Fatima Sana out if Asha had not dropped the catch. Fatima swept Asha for back-to-back boundaries before an outside edge on an attempted sweep which was caught by Richa, who showed incredible reflexes by sticking her right hand out to take a stunning one-handed catch.

After Tuba Hassan’s top edge was caught at short fine leg off Shreyanka, Nida and Syeda Aroob Shah stitched a 28-run stand for the eighth wicket. But Arundhati ended the partnership by rattling Nida’s off-stump before Nashra Sandhu’s unbeaten six, including a lofted four down the ground on the last ball, ensured Pakistan crossed the 100-run mark.

Chasing 106, Shafali survived an lbw decision off Fatima Sana when the replay showed the ball missing stumps. With Pakistan stifling run-flow with tight bowling, the pressure was on India to cut loose in the chase. In an attempt to break free, Smriti Mandhana sliced a wide ball from Sadia Iqbal to point in the fifth over.

After India ended the power play with just the second instance of them not hitting a boundary inside the six-over phase in women's T20Is, Shafali hit India’s first boundary by pulling Tuba for four on the first ball of the eighth over. She then lofted a low-full toss from Tuba for four before slog-sweeping Omaima Sohail for another boundary.

Just as Shafali signalled a shift of gears, she danced down the pitch to loft Omaima but holed out to long-on. A boundary-less run of almost five overs resulted in Jemimah trying to break free by giving herself room to go inside-out against Fatima but got a thick edge behind.

One brought two for Fatima as Richa Ghosh went for a cut on her first ball, but gave a thin edge behind. Harmanpreet took India closer to the win with a lofted shot over cover off a slower ball from Fatima but retired hurt on 29 after losing her balance and injuring her neck. Sajeevan Sajana finished off the game in style with a lofted four over mid-off to give India its sixth T20 World Cup win over Pakistan.

Brief scores: Pakistan 105/8 (Nida Dar 28; Arundhati Reddy 3-19, Shreyanka Patil 2-12) lost to India 108/4 in 18.5 overs (Shafali Verma 32, Harmanpreet Kaur 29 retired hurt; Fatima Sana 2-23) by six wickets.

--IANS

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