The much-awaited India-Pakistan clash in the 2025 Women's ODI World Cup had an intense first half that plenty of thrills in it. Put into bat, India posted a moderate total of 247, probably just about par for the surface, but they had Richa Ghosh's 20-ball 35* to thank as the innings lacked momentum otherwise thanks to Pakistan's disciplined bowling performance. Diana Baig (4-69) got some stick at the end but was the most successful bowler for Pakistan while skipper Fatima Sana (2-38) and Rameen Shameem (1-39) were the most economical bowlers.
There was a slight confusion at the toss as the match referee and presenter had heard Sana's call of 'heads' wrongly but it was quickly sorted out with the toss rightly awarded to Pakistan. Going by the trend of games at Colombo, Sana opted to bowl and her bowlers were on the money mostly in the innings. She herself struck the first blow, a big one, as the in-form Smriti Mandhana fell inside the first ten overs.
Once Mandhana fell, the scoring rate dipped as Harleen Deol (46 off 65), Pratika Rawal (31 off 37) and Harmanpreet Kaur (19 off 34) all struggled to maintain a high tempo on what was a two-paced surface. It didn't help India's cause that they lost wickets whenever they were trying to get on track for a bigger total. Jemimah Rodrigues (32 off 37) and Deepti Sharma (25 off 33) then stitched a precious 42-run stand but India imploded once this partnership was broken.
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From 201/5, it became 203/7 in a jiffy and that's when Ghosh farmed the strike with the lower order to give India a strong finish. At one point, getting to 230 looked difficult but Ghosh's fireworks got the total closer to 250. On a surface where the next best strike-rate was Jemimah's 86.40, Richa struck at 175 with three fours and two sixes.
The total is quite competitive even though batting does tend to get better under lights in Colombo. Another 25-30 runs could made it a really daunting total for India but now, it sets up for a thrilling second half.