Women’s T20 World Cup: Smriti Mandhana and Deepti Sharma star as India beat Pakistan

T20 World Cup, Group 1, Edgbaston

India 170-6 (20 overs): Mandhana 68 (44); Fatima 2-33

Pakistan 106 all out (17 overs): Muneeba 41 (35); Deep 5-10

India won by 64 runs

Scorecard; Tables

Smriti Mandhana hit 68 and Deepti Sharma took 5-10 as India opened the T20 World Cup with a 64-run win over arch-rivals Pakistan in Group One.

Opener Mandhana fell twice in an innings in which she hit nine fours and two sixes to take India’s score to 170-6.

Pakistan started this one well and reached 52-1 by the end of the powerplay, but all-rounder Deepti Sharma took India’s first two wickets and then came back to dismiss the last three batsmen as the ODI world champions bowled out their opponents for 106.

Fatima Sana’s team lost their last seven wickets for 31 runs and were bowled out with three overs remaining; Leg-spinner Sree Charani also took 3-21.

India captain Harmanpreet Kaur elected to bat, winning the toss, but saw her team collapse to 18-2 inside four overs when Shafali Verma and Jemimah Rodrigues were caught for six and one respectively.

Mandhana got his side out of trouble, but by midway through the match India were 44-2 and were left in the 27th position as they approached a hundred with 55 points.

The 29-year-old struck up a 91-run partnership with Harmanpreet before she was eventually caught by Pakistan captain Fatima Sana at long-on.

Pakistan stopped India’s efforts several times, but Deepti and Richa Ghosh hit 38 off the last 12 balls to set a total that Pakistan could not challenge.

India are chasing Australia, who also won their opening match, to secure a place in Group One, while Pakistan faces a tough challenge to get out of a pool that also includes South Africa.