India captain Harmanpreet Kaur lauded her side’s all-round performance after their dominating 88-run win over Pakistan in the ICC Women’s World Cup group stage clash in Colombo.
Notably, this was India's 12th consecutive ODI victory over the overhyped rivals Pakistan.
“Very happy, important win,” Harmanpreet said at the post-match presentation. “Our bowling was great, Kranti was outstanding. Renuka helped her. We created so many chances, dropped some. But the win makes us happy.”
Harmanpreet Kaur on the Colombo surface
India posted 247 on a sluggish Colombo surface, riding on a composed 46 from Harleen Deol and a late flourish from Richa Ghosh, who smashed 35 off just 20 balls to lift India after a middle-order stumble.
“It wasn't easy to bat on, we wanted to bat long and see how much we got,” Harmanpreet explained. “It's been raining and there was a hold on the pitch. We wanted to keep wickets in hand, Richa then gave us 30 crucial runs.”
India's batting against Pakistan
Earlier, opener Pratika Rawal gave India a good start with 31, while Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet herself got starts but couldn’t convert. Contributions from Jemimah Rodrigues (32), Deepti Sharma (25), and Sneh Rana (20) helped build the innings before Richa’s counterattack in the death overs pushed India to a competitive total.
The match saw its share of drama, including a toss error by the match referee, a controversial run out of Muneeba Ali, and a 15-minute delay due to a bug invasion.
Harmanpreet's plan in the upcoming clash
However, on the field, India kept things clinical. Pacer Kranti Gaud starred with figures of 3/20, including the crucial wickets of Sadaf Shamas, Aliya Riaz, and Natalia Pervaiz. Sidra Amin's 81 was the lone standout for Pakistan in a chase that never gained momentum.
“Right now, I’m happy we won,” Harmanpreet concluded. “Just want to go with the momentum when we go back to India. We know how the pitches there are, hope to work our combinations.”
With a strong net run rate boost and momentum on their side, India will look to build on this performance as the tournament continues.
India, who are unbeaten in the tournament, will now face South Africa in their third league stage clash on October 9, which is scheduled to take place at ACA–VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.