Bisht five-for sinks Pakistan
Derby (England), July 2: Left-arm spinner Ekta Bisht came to the fore with a stellar show as India crushed Pakistan by 95 runs in a low-scoring encounter to record their third successive win in the Women’s World Cup here on Sunday. After a couple of impressive outings by the batswomen, it was the turn of Bisht (10-2-18-5) and Co. to defend a meagre total of 169, skittling the opposition out for a lowly 74 in 38.1 overs.
India now have six points from three games and are at the top of the table.
It was a sweet revenge for the Indian women, who were beaten at home when the two teams met in the ICC World T20 in Delhi, last year.
What looked like a subpar score turned out to be a challenging one for Pakistani batters, who have never successfully chased more than 134 in a 50-over World Cup game.
They were all at sea against Ekta’s arm balls. She removed Ayesha Zafar (1), Sidra Nawaz (0) and Iram Javed (0) in her first four overs to wreak havoc.
All three deliveries were almost identical where the batters played for the turn but it didn’t turn much after pitching. She later came back to get a couple of wickets more.
Meanwhile, the West Indies collapsed to 48 in a 10-wicket defeat by South Africa as their campaign suffered a new low in Leicester.
The reigning World Twenty20 champions, who’ve now lost all three of their group matches so far this tournament, posted the sixth lowest completed one-day international total in women's cricket.