Women's T20 World Cup 2024: 3 records broken in India’s 6-wicket win vs Pakistan in Match 8
The scorecard would say India coasted to a six-wicket win against Pakistan in the 2024 T20 World Cup on Sunday but the Women in Blue know they could have done better. That's because of the context of the game: despite the win, India remained behind Pakistan in the Group A points table due to an inferior NRR.
After restricting Sana Fatima's team to just 105/8 in the first innings (which would have been lower if not for two dropped catches), India took 113 deliveries to reach 108. The pitch and slightly long boundaries aided the bowling side but a lack of innovation and fearlessnes to attack was lacking along with an over-reliance on the middle-order.
With only two matches against Sri Lanka and Australia left to be played, Harmanpreet Kaur and Co. still don't have it in their hands to reach the semi-finals. They are dependent on a couple of results going their way, plus their NRR improving concurrently, to have a chance of finishing in the top two.
Just like the performance, the records the team achieved were bitter-sweet too. Take a look at a select look of three such records:
#3 India becomes first team with two boundary-less powerplays in Womens's T20 World Cups
The sorry story of India's innings began in the powerplay as openers Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana managed just 25 runs in the first six overs despite the fielding restrictions. More tellingly, they went the entire phase without scoring a boundary; if not for a wide that went to the ropes, the score would've been 20.
This was the seventh instance of a boundary-less powerplay in women's T20 World Cups but only the first in this edition. With it, India became the first team to have such a powerplay twice, with their first one coming against the same opposition in the 2016 women's T20 World Cup -- a troublesome 7/2 after 36 deliveries.
India could only score 96/7 in that innings, with captain Mithali Raj scoring a slow 16 (35) at the top of the order. Pakistan won the rain-affected game by being two runs ahead of the DLS target at the 16th-over mark.
#2 Renuka Singh becomes the fastest Indian pacer to reach 10 Women's T20 World Cup wickets
India needed a good start in the match and new-ball bowler Renuka Singh provided that by clean-bowling Pakistan opener Gull Feroza on the last ball of the first over with a beautiful nip-backer. It lifted India's spirits immediately because the team was already down in the pace department due to Pooja Vastrakar's injury.
That wicket was Renuka's 10th in Women's T20 World Cups. She reached the small but crucial milestone in just her seventh innings in the event, becoming the fastest Indian pacer to do so. The record was previously held by the brilliant Shikha Pandey, who reached 10 wickets in her first 10 innings.
To put it in context, the legendary Jhulan Goswami needed 18 innings to get there and she couldn't add to it in her two final essays. Meanwhile, the overall record is held by leg spinners Poonam Yadav and Priyanka Roy -- six innings.
#1 India records most wins against Pakistan in T20 World Cups
This was India's sixth win against Pakistan from eight matches in Women's T20 World Cups. With it, they went past England (five wins in as many games) to be on top of the list for most wins against the Women in Green in the tournament.
It epitomized the mood of the fans. Though some were happy India couldn't do better to improve their NRR, others found solace in their first win of the tournament.
But it also suggested India have played an excessive number of games against Pakistan thanks to the ICC putting them in the same group every edition. These matches bring the most revenue and the same is seen in the men's game too.
Even this match broke an off-field record: the crowd of 15,935 people was the highest in a group-stage game for a Women's T20 World Cup encounter.