“Spirit of cricket moment”: Indian and Pakistani cricketers meet after their T20 match
On Monday, the Indian women’s cricket team met with the Pakistani women’s cricket team at Newlands.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) posted a video of the players laughing and talking with each other.
The vice-captain of Pakistan, Nida Dar, gave her shirt to the captain of India, Hermanpreet Kaur, and the captain of India gave her shirt to Nida Dar.
Vice-captain Nida Dar (left) and Indian captain Hermanpreet Kaur (right) are trading shirts. — PCB
Vice-captain Nida Dar (left) and Indian captain Hermanpreet Kaur (right) are trading shirts. — PCB
Both teams liked how the other team played when they were together. Later, both teams also took a picture of the whole group.
On the video, you can see the players hugging each other, shaking hands, and talking in a happy way.
As they posed for a group photo, Indian and Pakistani players sat next to each other. — PCB
As they posed for a group photo, Indian and Pakistani players sat next to each other. — PCB
The meeting happened after Sunday’s Women’s T20 World Cup match between India and Pakistan at New Lands in Cape Town.
In the match, India beat Pakistan by seven wickets thanks to the work of Jemimah Rodrigues and Richa Ghosh, who was only 16.
When Rodrigues and Ghosh put together an unbeaten 58 off 33 balls, it turned a tense run chase into a comfortable win with an over to spare.
Rodrigues batted calmly and skillfully to get 53 runs without getting out in 38 balls, while Ghosh, who was only 19, hit hard to get 31 runs without getting out in 20 balls.
After deciding to bat on a dry pitch, Pakistan got a score of 149 for 4.
When they were struggling at 68 for 4 in the 13th over, it didn’t look like they would get there.
But captain Bismah Maroof (68 not out) and Ayesha Naseem (43 not out) changed the game by batting together for 81 runs off 47 balls without getting out.
Maroof, who bats with his left hand, faced 55 balls and hit seven fours, while Naseem, who is 18 years old, scored her runs by smashing two fours and two sixes off of 25 balls.
Almost right away, Naseem went on the offensive with some powerful hitting. He hit a six over long-off in an over from Renuka Singh, who was moving at a medium pace, which cost 18 runs.
The Indian innings went in a similar way, and Pakistan’s left-arm spinner Nashra Sadhu bowled very well to take two wickets and 15 runs in her four overs.
Shafali Verma, who was caught by Sidra Ameen on the boundary, and Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur were both out by Sadhu. This meant that India needed to score at a rate of almost 10 runs per over in the last six overs.
But Pakistan paid a price for choosing only five bowlers. Their other bowlers were expensive, and their fielders made a lot of mistakes.
In the 18th over, Ghosh hit three fours after Aiman Anwer hit him with three consecutive balls. This pretty much ended the game.
