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Follow UsIf you want to see the difference between a fully professional and semi-professional women’s cricket team, just watch the highlights of the second match of the 2024 Women’s Asia Cup between India and Pakistan.
These two countries are the biggest arch-rivals in cricket. Entire International Cricket Council (ICC) and Asian Cricket Council (ACC) events are scheduled around an India -Pakistan game. So much so that extra reserve days are given, especially for this contest.
So it wasn’t a surprise when the official broadcasters of the Asia Cup began building up the tournament around another game between the two neighbours. However, here’s a big catch. That rivalry, or even a semblance of it, exists in men’s cricket only. In the women’s game, India are like Jupiter and Pakistan are like Venus.
That’s why the head-to-head record shows 12 wins for India and just three for Pakistan in T20Is. And that’s exactly how the Pakistani women played once again, reflecting the huge gap that exists between both sides.
Nida Dar’s decision to bat first seems totally justified in hindsight as India hardly wiped any sweat while chasing down 109 runs. However, right from the powerplay, the Indian bowlers not only executed their plans to perfection but also underlined the incapability of the Pakistani top order in dealing with short deliveries.
Pooja Vastrakar has been in the most purple of patches in her career with the ball, and the way she executed her short deliveries right from the start showed how much her striking ability has improved in the recent past (13 wickets in the last eight T20Is). Her attempted short delivery to opener Gull Feroza didn’t rise more than the batter’s waist, but she was beaten by pace and gave a simple catch in the circle.
After Feroza, Vastrakar changed her angle to the other opener, Muneeba Ali and banged it short once again. Muneeba, who’s one of the most technically adept batters in Pakistan, was beaten for both pace and bounce. Her discomfort was palpable and her drudging walk back to the pavilion told the story of the dismissal on its own.
Dambulla is not a great place to bowl pace, but here was Vastrakar peaking with her striking ability, which certainly brought a big smile to coach Amol Muzumdar’s face.
The remaining Pakistani batting order except Sidra Ameen (25 off 35), Tuba Hassan (22 off 19) and Fatima Sana (22 off 16), failed to put up any fight at all and Deepti Sharma (Player of the Match for her 3/20) and Shreyanka Patil (2/14) bowled really well with a lot of dip and drift, used the windy conditions and targeted the stumps. That made it really hard for the Pakistani batters to even try out their shots.
If there was any hope of a comeback in the second innings for Pakistan, Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana’s 85 runs opening partnership in just 9.3 overs crushed it. They batted without trouble, creating gaps with ease and pouncing on each short, wide, or full delivery dished out to them.
The shoulders of the fielding side had already dropped in the powerplay where Verma and Mandhana scored 57 runs. There was just one team playing the game, and it certainly wasn’t the green one.
Sadly, if you have followed the South Africa women's tour of India or the New Zealand women's tour of England recently, you’ll realize how the non-big three teams slipping is a pattern in women’s cricket. Yes, Sri Lanka are doing well but their success is yet again despite the system at their disposal and not because of it.
India’s walk in the park seven-wicket victory today was yet another reminder of this dire truth that is facing women’s cricket at the moment. The gulf between the fully and semi-professional teams is widening, and there’s no one who’s in control.
