Women's World Cup: Pooja Vastrakar, Sneh Rana script massive ODI world record with 122-run stand against Pakistan

The pair of Vastrakar and Rana missed India's all-time highest partnership for the seventh wicket, male or female, by just three runs.

Sneh Rana and Pooja Vastrakar led a stunning recovery for the Indian team in their Women's World Cup opener against Pakistan at the Bay Oval in Mount Manganui with their world-record breaking stand as India bounced back to finish with 244 for 7 in 50 overs. 

Sneh Rana and Pooja Vastrakar(Twitter/@cricketworldcup)

Rana walked in at No.7 when India lost their skipper Mithali Raj for just 9. The 2017 World Cup runners up were reeling at 114 for 6 in the 32nd over.

Rana scored an unbeaten 53 off 48, laced with four boundaries while Vastrakar pulled off a 59-ball 67 comprising eight boundaries as the seventh-wicket pair stitched a 122-run stand. The partnership is not just the highest for the wicket in Women's World Cup, but also in ODIs, surpassing the unbeaten 104-run stand between New Zealand's NJ Browne and SJ Tsukigawa in 2007 against England in Chennai.

India Women vs Pakistan Women Live Score, Women’s World Cup

Overall, the pair missed India's all-time highest partnership for the seventh wicket, male or female, by just three runs. The combination of R Ashwin and MS Dhoni had scored an unbeaten 125-run partnership against Pakistan in 2012.

Opting to bat, India were under pressure after opener Shafali Verma was dismissed for a duck.

A 92-run stand between Mandhana (52 off 75) and Deepti Sharma (40) helped steady the ship.

However, Pakistan came back by claiming a flurry of wickets, including the scalps of skipper Mithali Raj (9) and her deputy Haramanpreet Kaur (5).

For Pakistan, spinners Nida Dar (2/45) and Nashra Sandhu (2/36) snared two wickets each.

"It wasn't a good start for me, I want to attack the batters and maintain my consistency, but I think I pulled it back, 2 for 45 was pretty good. I want to bowl according to situations, the target is chaseable, the wicket looks flat and the ball is coming nicely onto the bat. The partnership was good, we can learn from them, we have good batters on our side as well. My responsibility is to build partnerships with the other batters," Nida Dar said at innings break.

(with PTI inputs)