Indian women suffer six-wicket defeat to West Indies in first T20

Veda Krishnamurthy, who came in after the fall of the first wicket, played through the innings for India, scoring an unbeaten 50. She joined forces with captain Harmanpreet Kaur (unbeaten at 68), a solid 88-run stand for the third wicket, to help India post a respectable target of 151 runs in 20 overs.

The Indian women’s cricket team slumped to a six-wicket defeat at the hands of the West Indies in the opening Twenty20 international of the three-match series at the Dr. Gokaraju Liala Gangaaraju ACA cricket ground here on Friday.

Harmanpreet Kaur played a captain’s knock for the India women’s team, scoring an unbeaten 68, to help the hosts post a respectable total of 150 runs in the stipulated 20 overs. The West Indies, however, chased the score down, helped by a 51-ball 90 runs by opener Stafanie Taylor. (Getty Images)

Opting to bat first, India made a poor start to their innings as they lost openers Vellaswamy Vanitha and Smriti Mandhana cheaply for three and 11 runs.

However, Veda Krishnamurthy, who came in after the fall of the first wicket, played through the innings, scoring an unbeaten 50. She joined forces with captain Harmanpreet Kaur (unbeaten at 68), a solid 88-run stand for the third wicket, to help India post a respectable target of 151 runs in their stipulated 20 overs.

In reply, West Indies opener Stafanie Taylor led from the front as she struck a 51-ball 90 runs to help the Caribbean side chase down the target with five balls to spare.

Shikha Pandey was the pick of the bowlers for India for his figures of three for 31.

India will play their second T20I against West Indies at the same venue on Sunday.