Raipur: Niki Prasad hogged the limelight once again as India women restricted Zimbabwe women to 102/8 in the first innings of the second T20I at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium here on Sunday.
Prasad, who made a stellar debut with a match-winning unbeaten 39 in the first match, picked 2-7 in her two overs during the second match against Zimbabwe.
She picked up a wicket off her first ball in international cricket and then another on the next ball. Prasad came close to picking up a hat-trick but was denied when her off-spin missed the leg-stump on an LBW appeal.
Prasad also become the first Indian women cricketer to take a wicket off her first career ball in T20I cricket.
Pacers Kranti Gaud, Nandni Sharma and spinners Deepti Sharma and Sree Charani also scalped a wicket each as the visitors could not even get past the 114/5 they had made in the first T20I despite the hosts making a few errors in the field.
India began well with the ball as Kranti and Nandni kept the lid on the Zimbabwe batters after the Women in Blue were asked to bowl.
Kranti conceded just one run from the opening over through a wide, and the visitors were crawling at 5/0 after three overs as openers Beloved Biza and Kelis Ndhlovu failed to provide a strong start.
Nandni then struck in the fourth over when she cleaned Ndhlovu for an 11-ball duck. Zimbabwe wasted a lot of deliveries in the powerplay and managed to move only to 20/1 in six overs, which saw as many as 29 balls being dot balls.
The 29 dots Zimbabwe faced are also the second-most dots in the powerplay of an innings in a Women’s T20I in India. The Women in Blue had played 30 dots in the first six overs against Pakistan women in Delhi in 2016 and then against South Africa women in Surat in 2019.
Kranti got the second wicket as Sharne Mayers was caught for nine in the ninth over. Captain Josephine Nkomo and Chipo Mugeri-Tiripano looked to put up a fight, but India made errors on the field too.
Shafali Verma put down Mugeri at mid-off in the 12th over off Sree Charani before Kranti put down the same batter in the next over at long-on.
However, last game’s debutant Prasad came just before the death overs and took back-to-back wickets. She first nicked behind Mugeri on a delivery that was on a good length and wide, before she plumbed Nyasha Gwanzura on the next delivery.
The 20-year-old came close to taking a hat-trick when Modester Mupachikwa missed her flick and was hit on the pads. The Indians appealed but decided against the review.
Modester Mupachikwa was run out when she tried to find a non-existent run in the 18th over. Charani came back and got Michelle Mavunga caught at long-on, while Francisca Chipare was run out on the final ball when the visitors tried to take two runs but managed only one.
They ended on 102/8 as Charani continued her strong wicket-taking streak. She now has wickets in each of her last 15 T20Is.
Brief scores: Zimbabwe 102/8 in 20 overs (Chipo Mugeri-Tiripano 34, Josephine Nkomo 27; Niki Prasad 2/7, Deepti Sharma 1/13) against India
–IANS–
