Rodrigues, Vastrakar lift India past WI in warm-up T20

DUBAI, UAE (CMC):

Jemimah Rodrigues cracked a half century and Pooja Vastrakar grabbed three wickets as India Women beat West Indies Women by 20 runs in their warm-up T20 match here yesterday ahead of the upcoming Women’s T20 World Cup.

Their performances overshadowed West Indies’ captain Hayley Matthew’s four-wicket haul and a fighting, unbeaten half-century by Chinelle Henry at the ICC Academy Ground.

Rodrigues scored 52 from 40 balls and was the mainstay of India’s total of 141 for eight from their 20 overs.

Vastrakar then struck twice early on to put the West Indies on the backfoot, and despite Henry’s 59 not out, they could only muster 121 for eight from their 20 overs.

India were actually struggling on 23 for three in the sixth over after Henry and Matthews ran through their top order.

But Rodrigues and Yastika Bhatia, who made 24, added 50 runs for the fourth wicket to get their side out of trouble.

And after the two lost their wickets, Deepti Sharma hit two fours in her cameo of 13 to help get India to a fighting score.

Matthews was the pick of the bowlers with 4-17 from her four overs.

In their chase, the West Indies never recovered after losing Qiana Joseph for one, Matthews for a duck and Chedean Nation for four, to slump to 13 for three.

Henry did add 57 with Shemaine Campbell for the fourth wicket to give the West Indies hope of a comeback, but once the latter was dismissed for 20, India’s bowlers snagged three wickets for just one run to effectively end the contest.

Henry was unbeaten on 59 from 48 balls, inclusive of two sixes and six fours.

For India, Vastrakar took 3-20, while Deepti Sharma supported with 2-11.

The West Indies’ next warm-up match is on Tuesday against defending champions Australia.