West Indies Women vs India Women: Punam Raut and Mithali Raj help India level series
After losing the first ODI by just one-run, Indian women came back with much better performance to win the second ODI against West Indies women by 53 runs to level the series at 1-1.
Indian women’s captain Mithali Raj won the toss and decided to bat first. The visitors brought in Rajeshwari Gayakwad in place of Ekta Bisht to lend some sharpness in the bowling department. However, Raj’s decision backfired soon as India lost Priya Punia (5 runs off 28 deliveries) and Jemimah Rodrigues (0 off 7 deliveries) to India on the backfoot. A gutsy knock of 77 runs by Punam Raut under pressure helped India overcome the early setbacks. Mithali Raj and Raut shared a 66-run partnership, mostly dominated by the Indian captain as Raut depended mostly on strike rotation and keeping one end secure.
Mithali Raj (40 runs off 67 deliveries) and vice-captain Harmanpreet Kaur (46 runs off 52 deliveries) supported Raut well as India managed 191 runs in their 50 overs.
Last match’s star performer Anisa Mohammed went wicket-less in her seven overs as India batters played with extra caution. Aaliyah Alleyne and Afy Fletcher took two wickets each to put brakes on the hard-hitting Indian batting line-up. In reply, the spin trio of Gayakwad, Deepti Sharma and Poonam Yadav bowled tough lines and lengths to claim two wickets each. For West Indies, Shemaine Campbelle played with a certain amount of application to top-score with 39 runs.
The hosts failed to bat out the 50 overs as they capitulated for 138 runs in 47.2 overs. For her brilliant knock, Punam Raut was picked as the player of the match.
The first match of the series was a cliff-hanger as the game went deep into the last over of the match. India needed nine runs off the last over with two wickets in hand. Anisa Mohammed took both the Indian wickets, one off the last ball, to help her team escape with a one-run win.
The series decider will be played on Wednesday, November 6 in North Sound.
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