Ekta bests Pakistan

Derby (England) : Left-arm spinner Ekta Bisht put up a stellar show as India crushed Pakistan by 95 runs in a low-scoring encounter to record their third successive victory in the ICC Women’s World Cup. After a couple of impressive outings by the batswomen, it was the turn of Bisht (5/18) and Co. to defend a meagre total of 169, skittling the opposition out for a lowly 74 in 38.1 overs. India now have six points from three games and are at the top of the table. Sweet revenge It was a sweet revenge for the Indian eves, who were beaten at home when the two teams met in the ICC World T20 in Delhi last year. What looked like a sub-par score turned out to be a challenging one for Pakistani batters, who have never successfully chased more than 134 in a 50-over World Cup game. They were all at sea against Ekta’s left-arm spin. She removed Ayesha Zafar (1), Sidra Nawaz (0) and Iram Javed (0) in her first four overs to wreak havoc. All three deliveries were almost identical where the batters played for the turn but the ball didn’t turn much after pitching. Seamers Jhulan Goswami (1/12) and young Mansi Joshi (2/9 were also on target. Deepti Sharma (1/21) and Harmanpreet Kaur (1/6) were economical as all the batswomen struggled to get going. Opener Nahida Khan (23 off 62 balls) and skipper Sana Mir (29) were the only ones to reach double figures for Pakistan. Earlier, the Indian batters had a disappointing day as they could only manage a paltry 169/9 after electing to bat. The Indian innings never gained momentum as Smriti Mandhana (2) was dismissed cheaply.