India Women Beat Ireland Women: Thanks to the excellent batting of the top order, the Indian women’s team defeated the Ireland women’s team by six wickets in the first match of the three-match ODI series played at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium on Friday (January 10). Pratika Rawal (89) and Tejal Hasbanis (53 not out) made a 116-run partnership to take India to 241/4 and the hosts crossed the score of 238/7 in 50 overs and won the match by six wickets with 93 balls remaining. Took. It was also a historic night for captain Smriti Mandhana, as she became the fastest Indian batsman and third fastest overall to score 4,000 runs in women’s cricket. Smriti achieved this position in 95 matches.
Ireland won the toss and chose to bat first and openers Sarah Forbes (9) and Gabby Lewis (92) made a solid start, but were dismissed by Titas Sadhu in the fifth over. Sadhu’s ball was wide of the off-stump and had good bounce on the length, as Forbes drove the ball and it went to slip. While Lewis held the innings at one end, the wickets of Una Raymond-Hoey (5), Orla Prendergast (9) and Laura Delany (0) fell at the other end and the visitors were in a dangerous position at 56/4. Before this, Leah Paul (59) made a partnership of 117 runs with her captain.
The partnership ended when Lewis did not respond to Paul’s call in the 39th over and was caught out well short of her crease, bringing a disappointing end to her innings. Deepti Sharma ended Lewis’s innings, after which she became the highest run-scorer in Ireland women’s ODI history. She was out after being caught and bowled in the 44th innings.
Thanks to the short innings of Christina Coulter Reilly (15 not out) and Arlene Kelly (28), Ireland scored 238/7 in 50 overs. India got off to a bright start while chasing the target as Smriti (41) and Pratika started the innings with a bang, but Smriti was out in the 10th over. In the middle, Harleen Deol (20) and Jemimah Rodrigues (9) handled the innings and India’s score became 119/3, but Tejal and Rawal snatched the match from the visiting team.
Pratika’s wicket fell just seven runs short of the target, after which Richa Ghosh (8 not out) ended the match by hitting two fours in her first two balls. After winning the Player of the Match, Raval said, ‘I feel comfortable while playing! This helps a lot. I like to watch the game play from the other end. This makes my mind lighter. We were just trying to keep it simple. We had a really good start. We just had to maintain our rhythm. In the end, Tejal played really well. I’m just trying to do what I do best. Just concentrating on one match at a time. Whenever the ball is in my slot, I try to play big shots; Otherwise, I try to take singles.
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