India 195 for 4 (Rodrigues 73, Mandhana 54) beat West Indies 146 for 7 (Dottin 52, Sadhu 3-37) by 49 runs
An aggressive 81-run stand between Jemimah Rodrigues and Smriti Mandhana combined with some excellent catching gave India a 1-0 lead in the three-match T20I series against West Indies.
Deandra Dottin led the fight in the 196 chase with a 28-ball 52 along with Qiana Joseph, but in the end West Indies fell 49 short with young medium-pacer Titas Sadhu taking three crucial wickets for India.
Mandhana's new opening partner
With Shafali Verma dropped, Mandhana had a new opening partner in Uma Chetry, who was playing her fifth T20I. West Indies introduced spin as early as the second over after opting to bowl first, bringing in left-arm spinner Zaida James to bowl to Mandhana. Thirteen runs came off it, with Mandhana pulling her for a four first ball and Chetry punishing her with back-to-back boundaries through the covers. Hayley Matthews brought herself on in the fourth over to bowl against the left-handed Mandhana but she was instead taken for two consecutive fours off the first two balls. Mandhana found her flow, making more than half of the runs in the openers' 50-run stand at the end of the powerplay.
Despite getting a life on 14, having been dropped in the slips, Chetry couldn't capitalise on it, struggling to score in the legside and slowing down against offspinner Karishma Ramharack. She was eventually bowled trying to flick Ramharack for a 26-ball 24.
Rodrigues on fire
The wicket, however, ended up being a positive for India, with Rodrigues joining Mandhana in the middle. Rodrigues stuck to her strengths, sweeping and reverse-sweeping the ball well from the get-go for her boundaries. Mandhana, meanwhile, went on the back foot to put the spinners away and was scoring boundaries at regular intervals as well, as the duo went hard at the balls that were pitched up. Together they took on Matthews for 19 runs in the 13th over. Their partnership just crossed 80 when Ramharack came back to dismiss Mandhana for 54.
Richa Ghosh, coming in at No. 4, made sure India did not slow down, hitting two fours and six off the first seven balls she faced. But she did not last long, with Dottin having her caught at deep midwicket. Rodrigues, however, continued to pile on the runs, bringing her fifty off just 28 balls. She hit boundaries all around the ground and also ran quickly between the wickets without tiring. She was run out in the last over for 73 off 35 balls but not before giving India a massive total.
Minnu Mani, super sub
With Harmanpreet Kaur not taking the field for the chase, Mandhana took over captaincy duties and Minnu Mani filled in as a sub. Mani made sure to make the most of her chance by taking excellent catches both in the infield and outfield on a foggy evening in Navi Mumbai. In the second over, when Sadhu had Matthews top edge a pull, Mani ran back diagonally from mid-on, dived and caught the ball that came down from a height with stretched hands. She took another one near long-on when Chinelle Henry miscued Radha Yadav straight up in the air.
The dangerous Dottin was dropped first by Rodrigues and then by Mandhana, she eventually ended up smashing it into the hands of Radha, who moved left from long-on to take the catch. While India's catching under the lights has previously been a subject of scrutiny, they did the job quite neatly on the day.
Dangerous Dottin, cool Sadhu
Sadhu made her comeback after an injury layoff in the Australia ODIs earlier this month but that did not go well. But on Sunday, with plenty of dew around, she kept mixing up her lines and lengths, managing to get three crucial wickets. While an excellent catch by Mani accounted for Matthews, she caught Qiana Joseph by surprise by shortening her length right after being smacked for a six. Joseph ended up hitting the ball towards mid-off for a simple catch and departed for a 33-ball 49.
But with Dottin going strong, West Indies still had a chance to turn the game around. Dottin was at her usual best - she got off the mark with an 80m hit over deep midwicket and single-handedly kept the scoring rate up despite little help from the other end. After being dropped the first time on 40, she went on to smash a six and a four to get to her half-century off just 26 balls. But she could not capitalise on her second life after being dropped on 52, getting out the next ball to Sadhu. That was pretty much the game for West Indies, who at that point needed 70 off 31 balls.
