Colombo: India captain Harmanpreet Kaur credited the bowlers for setting the tone for an emphatic 88-run win over Pakistan in the 2025 Women’s ODI World Cup clash at the R Premadasa Stadium, adding that she hoped everyone back home was very happy with the victory in Sunday’s clash.
India posted 247 on a sluggish pitch before bowling out Pakistan for 159, thanks to three-fers from Kranti Gaud and Deepti Sharma. “Very happy, very important game for all of us and I’m sure everyone back home is happy as well. Our bowling was great.”
“Kranti bowled really well, she was outstanding and Renuka helped her in getting the breakthroughs. We created so many chances, unfortunately we dropped it, but in the end when you win you are happy,” said Harmanpreet in the post-match presentation ceremony.
She acknowledged the batting challenges and lauded Richa Ghosh for her cameo of 25 not out lending respectability to the total. “It wasn’t an easy pitch to bat on, we wanted to bat longer and see how many runs we can get. It wasn’t an easy pitch. It’s been raining and there was a hold on the pitch. We wanted to keep wickets in hand. The key was keeping wickets, Richa batted really well and gave us that crucial 30 runs,” added Harmanpreet.
India’s win marked their 12th in women’s ODIs against Pakistan and took them to the top of the points table. Looking ahead, Harmanpreet said the team was keen to carry momentum into the next phase of the tournament, as India will now face South Africa in Visakhapatnam on October 9, before facing defending champions Australia at the same venue on October 12.
“There are a lot of areas but we are happy we won, just want to go with the momentum. Now we go back to India, we know how the pitches play there, we will look at the combinations and what team we need to play,” she said.
Kranti, who returned figures of 3-20, dedicated her performance to her village Ghuwara in Chhatarpur, Madhya Pradesh. “Feels very good. Proud for me, and this is for the people from my village.”
“They’ve put on a big LED screen to watch the match. Didi (Harman) told me let’s remove one slip as the ball has gotten older but I asked her to keep it there. My coaches tell me normal things and I catch onto them,” she said.
Pakistan captain Fatima Sana admitted her side leaked too many runs in key phases and fell way too short with the bat, while reserving praise for Sidra Amin, who scored a fighting 81. “We gave a lot of runs in the powerplay, extras too. That was the case in the death too. I felt we needed to restricted them under 200.”
“We decided to go with specialist batters in the top-five, they need to step up. We need to express ourselves, long partnerships, assess and adapt to conditions. Amin is hard-working, hope she’ll continue to do well,” she said.
(IANS)
