India made a strong comeback after the defeat against New Zealand with a 155-run win against West Indies. Thanks to a massive net run rate boost, they are now at the top of the league table. After two close wins, West Indies lost their first match of the tournament to slip to fifth place, despite having the same points as India.
Mithali Raj won the toss and decided to bat as India went in with the same XI. Unlike the New Zealand match, Smriti Mandhana and Yastika Bhatia batted aggressively from the start, taking 40 off the first five overs. Then Shakera Selman broke through, dismissing Bhatia for a 21-ball 31. Neither Raj (5) nor Deepti Sharma (15) lasted, and at 78/3 in the 14th over, India seemed to have squandered the initial advantage.
But Harmanpreet Kaur joined Mandhana, and the pair slowly took control of the game. Mandhana looked in beautiful touch and kept playing her shots. Kaur initially played a support act before joining in the fun. In World Cup cricket, this 184-run partnership is now India’s highest for any wicket as well as the highest ever fourth-wicket stand for any side.
Both players eventually got their hundreds. Mandhana’s 124 was her second century in World Cups, after one in 2017 against the same opposition, and fifth overall. Kaur, on the other hand, became the first Indian to score three hundreds in World Cup.
At one stage, India looked set for 330 but a late flurry of wickets and some tight bowling from Deandra Dottin restricted them to 317/8 – still India’s highest score in World Cups.
Dottin again led the batting for West Indies during the chase. She and Hayley Matthews started at a blistering pace. Jhulan Goswami’s first three overs went for 35, including five fours in an over. West Indies were 81/0 after 10 overs and reached 100 in the 12th over. The stage was set for a high-scoring thriller.
However, Sneh Rana had other plans. In the next over, she dismissed Dottin for a 46-ball 62 (10 fours, 1 six). Meghna Singh then got two key wickets including the big one of Stafanie Taylor. When Rana picked up Matthews, who got a hundred in the first match, West Indies were suddenly 114/4, having lost four wickets for just 14 runs.
The collapse continued as Pooja Vastrakar and Rajeshwari Gayakwad also joined the party. When Aaliyah Alleyne was run out, the score was 145/7 and the match was pretty much decided. Goswami joined in, getting Anisa Mohammed to become the highest wicket-taker in the history of the tournament.
Chedean Nation and the lower order crawled to 162, adding just 17 runs in more than 13 overs. Sneh Rana finished with 3-22, and fittingly took the last West Indian wicket to fall to hand over India a huge victory.
India 317/8 in 50 overs (Smriti Mandhana 123, Harmanpreet Kaur 109; Anisa Mohammed 2-59) beat West Indies 162/10 in 40.3 overs (Deandra Dottin 62; Sneh Rana 3-22) by 155 runs. Player of the Match: Smriti Mandhana.