Deepti Sharma and Niki Prasad stage strong turnaround as India-W beat Zimbabwe-W in series opener

The Indian women’s cricket team registered a resolute turnaround after an early jolt against Zimbabwe to go 1-0 up in the ongoing WT20I series. Smriti Mandhana’s captaincy era needed a few kinks ironed out after the two teams had to brave a tricky surface in Raipur.

Winning the toss, India opted to bowl first. Kranti Gaud dealt an early blow to get the better of Beloved Biza (0). However, Zimbabwe fought their way back even though the scoring rate didn’t really skyrocket. Kelis Ndhlovu (42) and Modester Mupachikwa (16) added 53 runs for the second wicket before N Sree Charani could remove the latter.

Arundhati Reddy struck to dismiss Ndlovu but Zimbabwe kept their ship steady through an incoming Sharne Mayers. Mayers stayed unbeaten for 43 off 33 balls, propelling the visitors to 114/5 at the end of 20 overs. Nandani Sharma was the pick of the Indian bowling lot with figures of 2/11.

The Women in Blue were jolted as Smriti Mandhana (9), Shafali Verma (4), Anushka Sharma (4) and Harmanpreet Kaur (1) were back to the pavilion before India’s innings could take flight. Wobbling at 19/4, India needed a strong partnership to avoid a major upset.

Niki Prasad (39*) and Deepti Sharma (49) took over the reins and worked to get the overhaul in place. Withering the early storm, Sharma and Prasad added 82 runs for the fifth wicket, before the former fell agonizingly short of a well-deserved half-century.

However, Prasad stayed unbeaten to see India through to the finish line with more than four overs and four wickets to spare. Deepti Sharma bagged the Player of the Match award for her defining knock of 49 while also being economical with the ball, registering figures of 0/22 from her four overs.