Mandhana, spinners guide India to a massive win against Pakistan

It wasn't a one-sided affair between Pakistan and India as they faced each other in Birmingham, and that's probably what made the victory sweeter for India. Pakistan kept making regular comebacks, but India's spin trio proved to be too good for them, as they shared nine wickets between them to take India home.

Catches win matches

Asked to bowl first by the Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur, Pakistan dismissed two Indian batters within the powerplay. This could have been three in eight overs, had Aliya Riaz not dropped a dolly at mid-off. As it turned out, it proved to be extremely costly. It was Smriti Mandhana who was dropped by Riaz, Pakistan's most-capped T20I player in this World Cup, while batting on 28. Mandhana went on to top-score 68 off 44 balls.

Alongside Mandhana, skipper Harmanpreet played an anchoring innings to hold one end but India were able to make up for the low run-rate with Richa Ghosh's innings. Richa made the most of the 19th over as she took Tasmia Rubab to the cleaners. 

Out of her total of 34 off 17 balls, 18 came against Rubab in the second-to-last over. That was where the damage was further intensified for Pakistan.

Pakistan’s chase ended sooner than expected

Pakistan's top-order batters did not let the tale of the last few overs of their bowling innings fizzle their spirits. By the end of the powerplay, Pakistan were 52 for the loss of just one batter, but that turned on its head pretty soon. 

Ayesha Zafar, Saira Jabeen, and, much to Pakistan's immense disappointment, Fatima Sana were dismissed in quick succession. Their set batter, Muneeba Ali, batting on 41 at that point, was brilliantly run out as the pressure grew. Shree Charani, Shefali Verma, and Deepti Sharma upended the middle-order, with Deepti grabbing three in her final over to deliver a death blow to Pakistan.

The spin torment could only let Pakistan reach 106 runs, as they lost the game by 64 runs in the 17th over.

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