In what you call a miracle of escape, India managed to hold the nerves and defeat West Indies in their second warmup match. After the first match against Pakistan being washed out, this clash was the only match that was left for the Indians to get the required exposure before going into the World Cup that starts on 21st February.
Batting first, India lost six wickets in quick succession and if you consider the number of drop catches that helped the top order to survive, India produced a poor batting performance. However, India’s experienced Shikha Pandey came to the team’s rescue with unbeaten 24 off just 16 to take the team past 100, ended up with 107 in their 20 overs.
India did not play Richa Ghosh and Radha Yadav today and opted for Poonam Yadav who is returning to the squad after injury and Veda Krishnamurty.
In return, West Indies had partnership here and there that keep the team in the hunt against some good bowling. Poonam Yadav announced her return with an excellent spell of 3 for 20. She was well supported by other bowlers as well, especially Deepti Sharma and Harmanpreet Kaur who picked up a wicket each and gave away a little. In the end, India managed to pull off a win by two runs.
In the practice super over, West Indies won the match comfortably as India lost Shafali Verma and Pooja Vastrakar early.
Both the teams have so much to look into, for India, starting from adjusting to the pace. Shafali Verma was beaten by pace a few times today. Also, the familiar problem of middle-order collapse. The team really need someone to stand up in the middle. Also, one can also question the position of Deepti Sharma considering the fact that Shikha Pandey, Pooja Vastrakar and Tanya Bhatia can play at least run a ball kind of innings.
For West Indies, the team is so much dependent on Taylor and when she fails, the team looks miserable when it comes to batting.
