NEW DELHI: There was rain threat at Eden Gardens since Saturday morning, but it all came down instead over Ferozeshah Kotla at the worst possible moment. On a terrible day in office, when the Indian eves managed only 97, there was just a hint of fightback. Pakistan were 77-6 after 16 overs, the 10,000 in the stands were deeply involved, when it started raining.
It was a sharp shower of about half an hour, but that was enough to ensure that
Mithali Raj and Co suffered their first defeat to Pakistan in the World T20. When the match was called off, Pakistan were two runs ahead by the Duckworth/Lewis system.
The Indian women completely lost the plot in the initial stages of the match while batting. The loss of a couple of early wickets sent the Indian women completely into a shell and when skipper Mithali Raj got out in the 12th over, the score was 33. The match was all but gone and it was
Veda Krishnamurthy (24) and
Jhulan Goswami (14) who took India close to 100.
Pakistan started steadily, reaching 48-1 in nine overs before the dismissal of Sidra Ameen (26) turned the tide. Pakistan lost five wickets for 29 runs, three of them in the space of six runs, before the heavens opened up, to finish things off for India.
Despite the defeat, the players savoured the enthusiasm of the crowd, something that they are not used to. "For once in my long career, I got to play in front of such a big crowd. There were some nerves but it was exciting, in a way. They cheered us every time we got a wicket. That helped us stay in the game," Mithali said.
The result notwithstanding, the Indian skipper believes her team did enough to encourage more people to come for their matches. "We have given them a good match. However, it is disappointing to lose despite so much support." Pakistan counterpart Sana conceded that things got tough for her side at the back end of the match with the crowd rooting for India. "Things could have gone either way. I did play in front of big crowd a couple of years back in Doha but that was a home crowd."