India captain Harmanpreet Kaur lauded the bowlers and openers for taking the lead in the job of getting a comfortable victory over Pakistan in their first game of the 2024 Women’s Asia Cup.

The bowlers shone in a top-notch performance to bowl out Pakistan for 108 and set the base for the seven-wicket victory at the Rangiri Dambulla International Cricket Stadium on Friday. Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana shared an 85-run opening stand off just 57 balls to help India chase down the total with 35 balls to spare.

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“Our bowlers and openers did the job. The first game is always a pressure game that sets the tone. Our entire unit played really well. When we were bowling, we were talking about early breakthroughs. With the bat, credit goes to Smriti and Shafali. We want to keep playing fearless cricket. How we played today, we are really happy with it,” said Harmanpreet after the match ended.

Off-spin all-rounder Deepti Sharma picked 3-20 and was named Player of the Match for being the pick of bowlers for India. “I am feeling really good as I could deliver as per the plan. I had the belief. As a unit, we are doing well for the last few months. The camps we have had helped a lot. I worked on my bowling after the South Africa series, so that helped. Nida Dar is a good batter, so her wicket was important.”

Pakistan captain Nida Dar lamented the Power-play being the differentiator between the two teams. The power-play phase literally summed up the result: Pakistan lost three wickets, while India didn’t lose any.

“The difference was the two Power-plays, that’s where we lost. We struggled in the batting and the positive out of it is the bowling unit – they did well. We have to get together and talk about plans for the next game. The main (issue) is Power-plays – if you see, if you win Power-plays you win games. We have watched the wicket, and we will plan better for the next matches,” she concluded.