IND-W vs WI-W T20 2024: Smriti Mandhana, Richa Ghosh power India to T20 series win against West Indies
Richa scored the joint-fastest fifty in women’s T20I to help India post their highest score of 217/4 in the shortest format. Smriti also broke multiple records.
Cricket
The Indian women’s cricket team, riding on power-packed fifties from Smriti Mandhana and Richa Ghosh, registered a T20 series win at home for the first time in five years with a 60-run victory over the West Indies in Navi Mumbai on Thursday.
The 2-1 series victory was the first T20 series win for India in the shortest format at home since their 3-1 victory over South Africa in 2019. The hosts won the first match in the India vs West Indies T20 series by 49 runs before losing the second by nine wickets.
On Thursday, West Indies won the toss and elected to field first. Led by Smriti’s third straight half-century of the series and the joint-fastest 50 in the women’s T20 by Richa, India posted 217/4- their highest score in the T20 cricket. India's previous highest was 201/5 set against the UAE in the Asia Cup earlier this year.
In reply, the West Indies women’s cricket team scored 157/9 in their 20 overs. Radha Yadav, with figures of 4/29 in four overs, was the pick of the Indian bowlers.
Batting first, the Indian cricket team lost opener Uma Chetry in the opening over. Jemimah Rodrigues, who scored 73 off 35 in the first T20, teamed up with Indian captain Smriti Mandhana for a 55-ball 98-run partnership, setting a solid foundation for the innings.
Mandhana, who has been in sublime form this year, reached her half-century off just 27 balls. She has scored eight fifties in the format this year - the most by a batter in a calendar year. With 30 half-centuries in the T20Is now, Smriti has the most fifty-plus scores in the format.
Mandhana eventually fell for 77 off 47, an innings laced with 13 fours and a six. She also ends the year with 763 runs - a record in women's T20Is. Rodrigues, meanwhile, played a crucial supporting role, scoring 39 off 28 before her dismissal in the 11th over.
Raghvi Bist, stepping in for injured captain Harmanpreet Kaur, ensured India did not lose the momentum. Her intent complemented wicketkeeper-batter Richa Ghosh, who produced a half-century in just 18 balls, matching the record of the fastest fifty in women’s T20I cricket, a feat shared by Sophie Devine and Phoebe Litchfield.
Richa’s 54 off 21 balls, featuring five sixes and three boundaries, propelled India to a strong finish. She and Bist added 70 runs in just 32 balls, with Bist remaining unbeaten on 31 off 22. Ghosh fell in the final over.
West Indian openers Qiana Joseph and Hayley Matthews started their innings cautiously, scoring just nine in the first three overs.
Sajeevan Sajana dismissed Qiana Joseph in the fourth over. However, Deandra Dottin and Hayley Matthews looked dangerous, taking the visitors to 57/1 by the end of the seventh over.
Radha Yadav was introduced into the attack in the eighth over and the left-arm bowler took the important wicket of Hayley Matthews. Dottin was dismissed by Titas Sadhu in the next over.
Chinelle Henry threatened to take the game away from India with her 16-ball 43 but the experienced pacer Renuka Singh found the breakthrough with a short ball in the 15th over.
West Indies needed 85 runs from the final five overs. The rest of the West Indian batters could not match the asking rate and the visitors eventually fell short by 60 runs.
IND-W vs WI-W 3rd T20 2024 brief scores: India 217/4 in 20 overs (Smriti Mandhana 77; Richa Ghosh 54, Aaliyah Alleyne 1/45) beat West Indies 157/9 in 20 overs (Chinelle Henry 43; Radha Yadav 4/29) by 60 runs.