IND-W vs IRE-W | Rawal’s 89 trounces Lewis marathon to earn India seamless six-wicket victory in first ODI

Opting to bat first, Gaby Lewis got Ireland off to a scintillating start by dispatching Sayali Satghare for three consecutive boundaries in just the second over of the game. However, Titas Sadhu seized back the momentum by having Sarah Forbes caught at slip midway through the powerplay before a mix-up between Una Raymond-Hoey and Gaby Lewis cost the former her wicket and made the scoreboard read 38/2 at the end of the powerplay. Smriti Mandhana took the opportunity to operate her spinners and Priya Mishra quickly paid dividends, scalping Orla Prendergast and Laura Delany on successive deliveries to further leave the visitors reeling at 57/4 just 14 overs into the contest. It was then that Lewis finally got some stable company in Leah Paul who alongwith her skipper kept the scoreboard ticking with the occasional boundary but they were in no hurry to rack up the runs, the duo not afraid to even play out the intermittent maiden. Saima Thakor finally manufactured a chance to break the stand in the 33rd over only for Smriti to spill a sitter, allowing the partnership to flourish past 100 as both batters brought up their respective half-centuries. It eventually took another run-out to end the 25-over wicket drought as Paul departed after a 73-ball stay before the skipper herself returned to the dugout five overs later, falling eight short of a century. However, a brilliant 25-ball cameo for 28 right at the death from Arlene Kelly ensured the visitors reached a respectable score of 238/7 and kept themselves in the contest.

All such hopes though were quickly dashed by Smriti and Pratika Rawal getting the chase off to a rollicking start, the former’s 29-ball 41 including a stunning takedown of Georgina Dempsey before falling victim to Freya Sargent on the final ball of the powerplay with the score a handsome 70/1. Harleen Deol opted for a more composed approach, as did Rawal once the field spread out, and the two quietly ticked along a 31-run partnership. When Deol did eventually try to go big in the 19th over, she only managed to hole out at long-on and Jemimah Rodrigues followed in her footsteps 10 deliveries later after being emphatically stumped off Aimee Maguire. However, the Women in Blue did not look back from there on as Tejal Hasabnis joined forces with Rawal to put together a match-winning partnership of 116 in just 81 balls, featuring nine boundaries from the former in her unbeaten 46-ball 53. Rawal only got out eventually trying to finish the game off with a maximum, thus affording Richa Ghosh to score the winning runs with a boundary.

If Pratika Rawal keeps showing the maturity that she has been, Shafali Verma has a task on her hands to find her way back into the Indian team before the ODI World Cup#INDWvsIREW #PratikaRawal

— Sabyasachi Chowdhury (@sabya0912) January 10, 2025