The New Indian Express ·
Women's Asia Cup | Pakistan collapse against India's spin magic
CHENNAI: When Shafali Verma came on to bowl in the fifth over of the innings, Pakistan were going steady in the Women’s T20 Asia Cup match against India. Muneeba Ali and Shawaai Zulfiqar had gotten off to a decent start as the scoreboard read 27/0 in 4.2 overs.
Though it might not be a score that would have worried the Indian team, when it comes to these two teams, there is not much rivalry on the field. It was evident when India completed the chase of 56 runs with more than 10 overs to spare. The Women in Blue has always been the dominant team barring the one off upsets here and there against Pakistan. For the Fatima Sana-led team to do it all over again, they need to bat through the first half without a collapse. And it seemed like they were halfway through.
Enter Shafali. The opener, who is a partnership-breaking specialist at this point, did what she does best. Shafali played to the ego of the batter, in this case Muneeba, and cleaned her up. That was all the entry India needed.
