New Delhi:
Shafali Verma's second consecutive century, backed up Deepti Sharma's magnificent haul of 4/10 helped India women's team continue their winning momentum in the series against West Indies as they won the second Twenty20 International by 10 wickets to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the five-match series. It was a clinical performance yet again from the Indian cricket team and it was Deepti who led the way by running through the middle order. However, it was Shafali who showed her mettle as West Indies wilted under the onslaught.
West Indies chose to bat and once again, the top order failed to get going as Stacy Ann-King and Shemaine Campbelle fell in quick succession to Shikha Pandey and Radha Yadav. Hayley Matthews and Chedean Nation looked to revive the innings with a solid stand but once Matthews fell to Pooja Vastrakar, West Indies struggled.
Nation and Natasha McLean looked to get West Indies over 100 but it was Deepti's turn to boost India. She got the wickets of Nation and McLean in the 17th over and immediately, she responsed with the wickets of Chinelle Henry and Sheneta Grimmond. Her exhibition of bowling in the death overs ensured West Indies had no momentum and her 4/10 restricted them to 103/7.
Shafali and Smriti Mandhana started aggressively, with the 15-year-old, who broke a 30-year record set by Sachin Tendulkar to become the youngest Indian to score an international fifty, took the early initiative by taking the attack to the West Indies bowlers. Shafali dealt mainly in boundaries and she notched up her fifty with a six off Hayley Matthews to notch ip her landmark of just 26 balls. This was the third-fastest fifty by an Indian player in Twenty20 Internationals after her opening partner Smriti Mandhana hit a 24-ball and 25-ball fifty against New Zealand and England respectively.
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Shafali blasted 10 fours and two sixes while Mandhana hit four boundaries, including the winning boundary as India wrapped up the match in just the 11th over. This was the second time that India had registered a 10-wicket win in Women's Twenty20 Internationals, having achieved this feat for the first time during the 2016 clash against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The action now shifts to the final three games which will be played in Providence, Guyana and India will be gunning to seal the series.
