Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur put together a rollicking 184 runs stand for the fourth wicket to get India’s World Cup campaign back on track. Coming together at a slightly precarious score of 78/3, the pair started cautiously before opening up and driving India to a huge score of 317/8 in the end. In reply, West Indies could only manage 162 as they collapsed from 100/0 to 162 all out.
India started their World Cup in emphatic fashion by defeating arch-rivals Pakistan by 107 runs. However, that was followed by a 62 runs defeat against strong contenders New Zealand. West Indies, having beaten New Zealand and England in their first two matches, arrived for this contest full of confidence, but met their match in Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur.
This was the 5th century for Smriti in ODIs, while it was the 4th ton for Harmanpreet Kaur, and her first since her legendary knock of 171 in 2017 World Cup against Australia. The veteran’s return to form during this World Cup is a very welcome sign for India as they prepare for tougher battles ahead in the competition.
India started very positively as Yastika Bhatia, opening in place of Shafali Verma gave the team a great start as India raced on to 49 in the 7th over. However, her wicket slowed things down as West Indies clawed their way back with the wickets of Deepti Sharma and Indian captain Mithali Raj. That is when Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet came together to change the course of the match.
Facing a huge target of 318, West Indies started like a house on fire with danger woman Deandra Dottin and Hayley Matthews reaching 100 in the 13th over. However, once the star of the first match Sneh Rana dismissed the two openers, there was little resistance from the rest of the Windies squad as they collapsed to 162 in the end.
The win catapults India to 3rd in the table. With the round robin format of the tournament, the top 4 are going to go into the semifinals to be held at the end of this month with the final scheduled for 3rd of April.
