Captain Harmanpreet Kaur helped India edge Pakistan by 6 wickets in their Group A match of the Women's T20 World Cup in Dubai on Sunday.
Chasing a target of 106, India needed to win in 11.2 overs to have a positive net run rate. But Kaur's Women in Blue dragged it till the 19th over. Despite the win, India's NRR (-1.217) is below that of Pakistan (-0.555) because of a heavy defeat to New Zealand in their series opener. India must beat Australia and Sri Lanka with heavy margins to reach the semifinals.
Smriti Mandhana was dismissed early but Shafali Verma (35) and Jemimah Rodrigues (23) rescued the chase before Kaur arrived to steer India toward victory. The captain was retired hurt toward the end. Pakistani captain Fatima Sana bagged two wickets.
Earlier, Arundhati Reddy bagged 3/19 as India restricted Pakistan to 105/8. Fatima Sana won the toss and chose to bat, but Renuka Singh put pressure on Pakistan straight away by dismissing Gull Feroza in the first over.
Pakistan lost wickets at regular intervals until Nida Dar helped them rebuild with a patient 28. Shreyanka Patil bagged two wickets.
Brief scores: Pakistan 105/8 in 20 overs (Nida Dar 28, Arundhati Reddy 3/19, Shreyanka Patil 2/12) lost to India 108/4 in 18.5 overs (Shafali 32, Harmanpreet 29 retired hurt, Jemimah 23, Fatima 2/23)