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The Indian team secured a clinical 20-run victory over West Indies to begin the Women's T20 World Cup 2024 warm-up stage on a winning note. The game took place on Sunday (September 29) at the ICC Academy Ground No. 2 in Dubai.
Invited to bat first, India got off to a bad start as they lost Shafali Verma (7), Smriti Mandhana (14) and Harmanpreet Kaur (1) in the powerplay. However, Jemimah Rodrigues and Yastika Bhatia (24) stitched a crucial 50-run stand to put the team in good stead.
Although Rodrigues went on to score 52 off 40, the rest of the line-up could not support her well enough. As a result, India Women settled for 141 on the board. Hayley Matthews was the pick of the bowlers, with four wickets.
In response, West Indies were rocked by a triple strike and were stuttering at 13/3 in the fourth over. Although Chinelle Henry (59*) did the heavy lifting, they managed to score only 121/8 in their stipulated 20 overs. Pooja Vastrakar emerged as the wrecker-in-chief with figures of 3/20.
India will face South Africa in their final Women's T20 World Cup 2024 warm-up game
The Harmanpreet Kaur-led side will clash with South Africa in their second and final warm-up game on Tuesday (October 1) at the ICC Academy Ground in Dubai.
On Sunday, the Proteas Women were bundled out for 92 against New Zealand and then failed to defend the score as well. They will look to learn from their mistakes and come up with a better performance against India.
The game will be crucial to setting the tone for the Women in Blue as they kickstart their World Cup campaign against New Zealand on October 4. It will be interesting to see whether the Indian batting unit, especially the top three, can enter the showpiece event on a good note.
