Thanks to the brilliant four-wicket haul from spinner Rajeshwari Gaikwad. Team India got off to a great start to the campaign by beating Pakistan by 107 runs in their first match of the ICC Women 's World Cup 2022.
The Player of the Match title went to Pooja Vastrakar, who played a half-century innings.
In the match played at the Bay Oval ground, the Pakistan team was bundled out for 137 runs in response to India's target of 245 runs. Gaikwad took 4 wickets for 31 runs in 10 overs.
Apart from him, senior fast bowler Jhulan Goswami and young Sneh Rana took 2-2 wickets. Meghna Singh and Deepti Sharma got one success each.
At the beginning of the match, Indian captain Mithali Raj won the toss and decided to bat first.
With the help of opener Smriti Mandhana and Deepti Sharma's partnership, India added 96 runs for the second wicket after losing the wicket of Shafali Verma for just four runs.
In the 22nd over, Sharma became the victim of Nashra Sandhu by playing an innings of 40 runs off 57 balls.
After which Mandhana was also caught in the over of Anam Amin after playing a brilliant inning of 52 runs off 75 balls in the 25th over.
After the dismissal of Mandhana-Sharma, the Indian middle-order faltered and Team India lost 6 wickets for 114 runs.
Young players Sneh Rana and Pooja Vastrakar took over the Indian innings after captain Mithali Raj (9) and senior batsman Harmanpreet Kaur (5) were dismissed cheaply.
Rana and Vastrakar made a partnership of 122 runs for the seventh wicket while playing half-centuries, with the help of which India scored 244/7 in 50 overs.
Rana scored an unbeaten 53 off 48 balls while Vastrakar scored 67 runs off 59 balls.
In response, no batsman played from Pakistan's side. After opener Sidra Amin's innings of 30 runs off 64 balls, no other batsman could even cross the 20 mark and the entire team was all out for 137 runs in 43 overs.
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