It’s not for nothing that Hayley Matthews is rated so highly in international women’s cricket. The West Indies captain led from the front at the DY Patil Stadium on Tuesday with an unbeaten 85 (47b, 17×4) as her team cruised to a nine-wicket win against India and drew level in the three-match T20I series.
Moving on from an embarrassing defeat in the series opener a couple of days ago, West Indies batters put up a spirited show and chased down India’s tricky total of 159 for 9 without breaking a sweat. With dew settling in, the Indian bowlers struggled to find breakthroughs and making most of the reprieves, Matthews and Qiana Joseph forged an opening stand off 66, which set the tone.
With Harmanpreet Kaur missing out on the fixture due to a dodgy knee, stand-in captain Smriti Mandhana explored every possible option in terms of rotating the bowlers, but nothing clicked as Matthews looked at ease, en route to her 15th fifty in T20Is. While she initially anchored the innings, Joseph went on a rampage – hammering three fours and a six in Titas Sadhu’s opening over. Coming on the back of a three-wicket haul in the previous game, the expectations were high from the young medium fast bowler, but her confidence took a beating as the West Indies openers toyed with her.
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Matthews, too, flexed her muscles soon as she took Renuka Singh Thakur to the cleaners, ensuring the team ended the powerplay without losing a wicket for 65. Even though Saima Thakor claimed her maiden wicket in T20Is, dismissing Joseph, shortly after the powerplay, Matthews held fort and built another unbeaten 94-run partnership with Shemaine Campbelle (29 n.o., 26b; 4×4). As the wicket eased out, the batters from the visiting team took things in their stride and dashed India’s hopes of gaining an unassailable lead in the series.
Despite the defeat in the last game, West Indies stuck to its old strategy and once again opted to field after winning the toss. And this time around, the move paid off as it bowled phenomenally with the new ball and managed to reduce India to 48 for 3 in the ninth over. Even though Mandhana stood firm and cashed in on the three dropped catches to score 62 off 41 deliveries, top-order batters let India down as Uma Chetry, Jemimah Rodrigues and debutant Raghvi Bist failed to get going.
Even the move to elevate Deepti Sharma did not work. However, West Indies slipped up with some sloppy fielding and poor bowling towards the end allowed Richa Ghosh to punished it with a 17-ball-32-run cameo to put up a competitive total for her side. But in the end, that wasn’t adequate.