Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: Bolwers Kranti Gaud and Deepit Sharma bagged three wickets each to help India beat Pakistan by 88 runs in their World Cup cricket match in Colombo on October 5. Defending 247, the Indian bowlers were relentless, with Kranti Gaud (3-20) and Deepti Sharma (3-45) lead the charge to bowl out Pakistan for 159 in 43 overs. The result also marks India’s 12th victory over Pakistan in the format and takes them to top of the points table in the competition.
The tone for India’s was set by Kranti, who maintained a stump to stump line and Renuka Singh Thakur, who along with the youngster extracted swing and seam movement in both directions, leaving Pakistan’s top order searching for answers. As a result, Pakistan found themselves behind the required rate within the first 15 overs, a deficit they never quite recovered from, despite a gritty 81 off 106 balls from Sidra Amin. She reached her fifty in 82 deliveries and was dropped four times during her innings, but found little support from the rest of the lineup as India’s bowlers tightened the screws, and ensured their unbeaten record against their arch-rivals remains intact.
Pakistan’s chase lacked conviction from the word go, with the batters having no answers to a barrage of inswingers from Renuka and Kranti. India, despite missing three plumb lbw chances and burning both reviews, kept the pressure on – though Richa Ghosh’s two missed catches could’ve made the scorecard leaner. Muneeba Ali’s dismissal was bizarre – initially ruled not out, she was run out by a direct hit from Deepti due to lifting her bat after having grounded it first. Sadaf Shamas fell to a tame caught-and-bowled dismissal to Kranti, who had Aliya Riaz edging to second slip.
