Defending champions India have made a winning start to the U-19 Women's T-20 World Cup. On Sunday, the team defeated West Indies by 9 wickets. West Indies batted first in Kuala Lumpur, but the team could only score 44 runs. India chased down the target by losing 1 wicket in just 4.2 overs.
Windies Women were all out in 13.2 overs Indian captain Nikki Prasad won the toss and chose to bowl. West Indies did not lose a single wicket in the first 3 overs. Captain Samara Ramnath got out after scoring 3 runs in the fourth over. At this time the score of the team was 10 runs. West Indies wickets started falling from here. Team opener Asabi Kalender scored 12 runs and Kanika Kasar scored 15 runs.
Indian captain Nikki Prasad won the toss and chose to bowl.
5 West Indies batsmen could not even open their account, while 4 batsmen could not even cross the 5-run mark. The team was all out after scoring 44 runs in 13.2 overs. Parunika Sisodia took 3 wickets for 7 runs from India. VJ Joshita took 2 wickets for 5 runs and Ayushi Shukla took 2 wickets for 6 runs. 3 batters were also run out.
3 West Indies batsmen were run out.
India lost one wicket in the first over Gongdi Trisha hit a four off the first ball for the Indian women's team chasing a target of 45 runs. However, he gave away the wicket of Jahzara Claxton on the very second ball. After that wicketkeeper G Kamalini scored 16 runs in 13 balls and Sanika Chalak scored 18 runs in 11 balls. The team chased down the target by scoring 47 runs in just 4.2 overs.
VJ Joshitha who took 2 wickets for 5 runs became the player of the match.
Malaysia all out for 23 runs In the second match of Group-A, Sri Lanka Women won by 139 runs. Batting first in Kuala Lumpur itself, the team scored 162 runs for the loss of 6 wickets. The tenth Sanethma scored a fifty. The Malaysian team could score only 23 runs after batting 14.1 overs. 6 batsmen could not even open their account, while the highest individual score was just 7 runs.
India tops the points table By winning the first match, India has also secured the first position in the points table of Group-A. Sri Lanka are also 2 points behind India, but India's women's team is at number one due to a good run rate. The team's second match will now be against home team Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur on January 21. The team will play the third match against Sri Lanka on January 23.
16 teams are participating in the tournament. 4 teams were divided into 4 groups. The top 3-3 teams from each group will advance to the Super-6 round. Here 6-6 teams will be divided into 2 groups. The top 2 teams from each group will then advance to the semi-finals. The final will be played on February 2.
Image Credit: Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).