A half-century from middle order batter Jemimah Rodrigues, on Sunday, helped India beat West Indies by 20 runs in their first warm-up match of the 2024 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in Dubai.
Having been asked to bat first, the Indian women did not have the best of starts as they lost a struggling Shafali Verma in the third over to Chinelle Henry.
Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur’s promotion to number 3 in the batting order to plug that area of weakness did not work either as she fell to Hayley Matthews for just 1. Smriti Mandhana too fell to the off-spinner to leave India reeling at 23/3 in the sixth over.
This is when Rodrigues (52) and southpaw Yastika Bhatia (24) joined hands with a 50-run fourth wicket stand before the latter fell prey to Matthews.
Rodrigues continued to motor along and India required a late cameo from Deepti Sharma (13*) and a couple of hits from Pooja Vastrakar and Shreyanka Patil to post 141/8 in their alloted 20 overs.
Matthews starred for West Indies, finishing with figures of 4-17 in her four overs.
Unlike their struggle with the bat, India dominated the proceedings with ball in hand. Vastrakar and Renuka Thakur combined to strike thrice within the first four overs to leave West Indies reeling at 13/3.
Wicketkeeper Shemaine Campbell and Henry added 57 runs for the fourth wicket, but once the former was prized out by Asha Shobana, there was no turning back for India.
Henry waged a lone battle, finishing with an unbeaten 59 off 48 but there was little support from the other end. Afy Fletcher scored a quick-fire 21 off 14, but it was not enough to trouble the Indian bowlers.
Vastrakar starred with the ball for India, picking up 3-20 in four overs along with a maiden, while Deepti Sharma struck twice as West Indies posted 121/8 in the chase.
