India women register 6-wicket Victory against Ireland in first ODI
India women take the lead against the visiting Ireland team after winning the first ODI. Smriti Mandhana led her side to a comfortable six-wicket win at Rajkot. Young opener, Pratika Rawal was once again the star of the show. Ireland decided to bat and here is how the match went.
Early blows for the visitors
India had a young squad with less experience in the bowling department. Sayali Satghare made her debut for the women in blue. The team is testing their young squad and they didn’t disappoint. Titas Sadhu dismissed the first batter when Ireland was on 27 runs. This was followed by a run-out on 34 runs.
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Orla Prendergast came to the middle. She was looking decent but lost her wicket to leg-spinner, Priya Mishra. Laura Delaney came to the middle and lost her wicket on the very next ball. Ireland were 56 for four after 13.3 overs.
Record fifth wicket partnership
Captain Gaby Lewis stood in the middle from the start. She saw her four partners going to the pavilion. In came Leah Paul to join her captain in the middle. Both players were solid defensively and were scoring runs at a decent pace.
The duo completed their fifties. Their partnership also grew and the fifth wicket fell after adding 117 more runs to the team’s total. Paul was dismissed for 59 runs. Lewis stood in the middle and was nearing a century.
Towards the end, the Indian bowlers brought back the momentum in their favor. Lewis lost her wicket on 92 runs by Deepti Sharma. Ireland scored 238 runs for the loss of seven wickets. Priya Mishra picked up two wickets for the team. Saima Thakor gave only 30 runs in her 10 overs but failed to take a wicket.
India Women: Fiery start
Smriti Mandhana opened the innings with Pratika Rawal. Shafali Verma is out due to an injury and India are testing a new opening partnership. Rawal has shown positive signs in the last series against West Indies. Both players gave a good start to the Indian innings.
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The captain led from the front and scored 41 runs in 29 runs. She was dismissed at the end of the powerplay. India had already scored 70 runs. Rawal stood in the middle and played an outstanding innings.
Aimee Maguire applied some brakes on India’s scoring. She took three wickets in the match. Harleen Deol and Jemimah Rodrigues were dismissed cheaply.
Tejal Hasabnis also showed her quality and created a partnership with Rawal. She scored her maiden half-century. Both players stood on the crease for 116 runs. Rawal was dismissed on 89 runs.
It was a comfortable win for this young Indian side. All the youngsters gave their best and earned a big win. They will now meet in the second ODI on Sunday. India are likely to make any changes and will be eyeing to secure the series.
