[Watch] India's Renuka Thakur bowls a beautiful in-swinger to castle Deandra Dottin in her last international game
Renuka Thakur once again provided India with a blistering start in a must-win game against Barbados at the Edgbaston Cricket Ground in Birmingham on Wednesday (August 3). The two countries faced off at the 2022 Commonwealth Games on Wednesday, August 3, in Birmingham.
Defending 162, the Women in Blue got off to the start they would have hoped for. Renuka, who has been in superlative form in the ongoing CWG, knocked over opponent's most dangerous batter Deandra Dottin.
After a couple of dots, Dottin tried to take the attack to the opposition. She came down the track and tried to muscle the ball over the mid-wicket region. The ball came in after it hit the deck and the Barbados batter completely missed the line of the delivery.
Renuka erupted in celebration after the ball hit the leg-stump, which went for a cartwheel. Dottin got out for a duck in what will be her last game at the international arena. The dynamic all-rounder announced her retirement from international cricket a few days back.
Watch the dismissal here:
Thakooor!
#B2022
#Cricket #CricketTwitter #INDvBAR https://t.co/pfdA0kiUPe
With momentum on her side, Renuka claimed three more wickets to break Barbados' backbone. Hayley Matthews holed out Shafali Verma at mid-on, while Kycia Knight walked back to the pavilion after playing one on to the stumps. The Indian seamer cleaned up Aaliyah Alleyne with a perfect in-swinger to finish her spell with figures of 4/10.
Reeling at 45/6 during the time of writing, the Barbados side will require a monumental effort to chase down the target.
Jeminah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma propel India to 162/4
Innings Break!
Brilliant partnerships between Shafali & Jemimah (71) and Jemimah & Deepti (70*) guide #TeamIndia to a total of 162/4 on the board.
@JemiRodrigues top scored with 56*
Scorecard - bit.ly/CWG2022-INDvBAR #INDvBAR #B2022 https://t.co/uv7TVqbcyY
The Women in Blue revived well, thanks to Shafali Verma and Jemimah Rodrigues, after losing Smriti Mandhana early. They added 71 runs for the second wicket to set up a platform for a brisk finish.
Just as India tried to cut loose, Barbados bounced back, dismissing Shafali and Harmanpreet Kaur in the space of a few deliveries. Taniya Bhatia, playing her first game of the competition, also followed suit soon after.
With 92/4 at the end of 13 overs, India were under pressure but Jemimah Rodrigues (56*) and Deepti Sharma (34*) showed maturity to take the team to a respectable total of 162.