India’s Women beat West Indies by 84 runs in the first T20 match in Windies
By Anurag Mallick Published on 10 Nov 2019 1:16 PM GMT
Hyderabad: After beating West Indies women in the ODI series (2-1), the Indian women's cricket team continued their dominant run in the five-match T20 series held in the Windies. The Indian team defeated West Indies by 84 runs in the first T20 match played at the Darren Sammy National Cricket Stadium, St Lucia.
Fifteen-year-old Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana opened for the Indian team and were off to a flying start as the duo added over 100 runs in the first ten overs. This led to a partnership of 143 runs for the first wicket as Smriti, and young Shafali scored half-century each. The latter recently made her debut in the national team, becoming the second youngest Indian to make it to the national team.
The explosive 15-year-old Shafali Verma scored her maiden half-century in the first T20I against West Indies Women today in St Lucia. Shafali is the youngest Indian ever to score an int'l fifty👏🏾👏🏾 #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/O2MfVdNBOv
— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) November 10, 2019
Given a chance to open the innings, she did not disappoint her team as she scored a brilliant 73 from 49 deliveries, which included six fours and four sixes. Shafali Verma smashed Shakera Selman for two fours and a six in the second over and then sent the ball to the fence on four consecutive occasions before hitting a maximum in the fourth over of the innings.
During her innings, Shefali also became the youngest Indian cricketer to score an international fifty. A record held by Sachin Tendulkar for 30 years. India then lost their openers as Harmanpreet Kaur, and Veda Krishnamurthy chipped in with 21 and 15 to take India to 185/4 in their 20 overs.
Chasing a massive total, the Windies women kept losing wickets as Indian bowlers, Radha Yadav, Poonam Yadav and Shikha Pandey picked two wickets each to restrict the opposition to 101/9 in their 20 overs.
With this huge win, India now leads the five-match T20 series by 1-0 and are set to play the second T20 at the same venue on Sunday.
