Raj shines as India defeat Pakistan at World T20

Seasoned batter Mithali Raj cracked a halfcentury to guide India to a seven-wicket win over arch-rivals Pakistan in the ICC Women’s World T20.

Raj held fort from one end to make short work of India’s run chase with a 47-ball 56 which she made with the help of seven fours in the Group B match which was marred by unprecedented docking of 10 penalty runs on Pakistan.

Even before a ball being faced, 10 runs were on India’s scoreboard after Pakistan were docked five-run penalty twice during their innings on account of their batswomen running on the danger area of the pitch during their innings.

India had little difficulty in chasing down the modest target of 134 with six balls to spare, reaching 137-3 in 19 overs. Harmanpreet Kaur and Veda Krishnamurthy remained not out on 14 and 8 respectively. Courtesy the victory, India now have one foot in the semi-finals from the five-team Group B.