West Indies hammered India in the second T20I of the three-match series in Navi Mumbai to register their first win against the Women in Blue in the format since 2016. Captain Hayley Matthews played a blistering knock of 85 from 47, while Qiana Joseph and Shemaine Campbelle contributed well as the Windies chased down India’s 160-run target with nine wickets in hand and 26 balls to spare.
India were asked to bat first, just like in the first T20I. However, the Indian batters could not replicate the performance they put in the opening game two days back. Umma Chetry departed early in the second over and Jemimah Rodrigues got going with a four off the first ball. Smriti Mandhana, leading in place of an injured Harmanpreet Kaur, led the charge with the bat too. She kept the scoreboard ticking and found great favour of luck as the Southpaw was dropped three times from the 11th over onwards.
Mandhana raced to a 37-ball fifty and was looking to score more but ran out of luck in the 14th over when she scooped one to fine leg. The hosts suffered a couple of more blows as Deepti Sharma was run out and Sajana Sajeevan was trapped in front in the next two consecutive overs.
The hosts were staring at a score of around 130 but Richa Ghosh played a brilliant cameo. She scored 32 from 17 balls, laced with six fours. Meanwhile, the Windies bowlers kept chipping with the wickets and displayed a proper team performance. Deandra Dottin scalped two wickets and also took two catches, one of which was a blinder after running to her right from long-on.
The Windies made light work of the 160-run target. Captain Matthews led from the front and put up an opening stand of 66 with Qiana Joseph. The hosts could not find enough discipline with the ball and found only one wicket when Joseph top-edged Saima Thakor in the 7th over.
Matthews kept going at her blistering rate, taking her team home with a four at covers with 26 balls to go. With this, the Windies ended their nine-match losing streak against India in T20Is and defeated them for the first time since November 2016.
