Pakistan Women’s captain Nida Dar, shared her thoughts on the defeat of her side by India at the Women’s Asia Cup 2024.
The game took place on Friday at Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium and saw India secure a seven-wicket comfortable win against their arch-rivals.
India had a great opening partnership with Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma who set the stage for their triumph.
“The main thing in this game isthe powerplay. If you take out powerplays you will win the game,” said Nida Dar, 37 year old, focusing on the importance of early overs for determining outcome of match as loosing team mannered.
“We lost two powerplays that made the difference. We struggled for batting and one positive is our bowling unit – they did well. They need to get together and plan for the next match now. Power plays are everything; if you win them, you win games. We have seen the wicket and will be better prepared in future matches,” she added during post-match presentation.
Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat but kept losing wickets regularly throughout their innings. Sidra Ameen contributed 25 runs off 35 balls with three fours scored while Tuba Hassan made 22 runs from 19 balls, also hitting six fours on her way back to pavilion. Fatima Sana batted an unbeaten cameo of 22 off just 16 deliveries including one fourand two sixes.
Deepti Sharma was India’s top bowler with three wickets for just twenty runs while Shreyanka Patil and Renuka Singh finished with two wickets apiece allowing only fourteen runs each. Having taken two scalps Pooja Vastrakar supported well too.
India showed good discipline in bowling first hence Siddharth Srinivasan never caused any serious trouble with his figures being neat (3 wickets for 20 runs). Shreyanka Patil and Renuka Singh also took two wickets each, giving away fourteen runs. Pooja Vastrakar also had a brace.
In response India had an excellent start courtesy of a strong 85-run opening stand between Shafali Varma and Smriti Mandhana. Varma did well to score 40 off just 29 balls including six fours and one sixes while Mandhana’s knock came in the form of nine boundaries which produced 45 from only 31 deliveries.
Though they lost some wickets in the middle overs, India managed to recover and eventually secured an easy win with seven wickets remaining when there were still thirty five balls left.
