Pooja Vastrakar of India struck early, dismissing West Indies opener Hayley Matthews for only two runs in the current Women’s T20 World Cup 2023 matchup. The two teams are now clashing in Newlands in Cape Town in their respective second-group-stage match.
Windies captain Hayley has won the toss and chosen to bat first in the match. Pooja Vastrakar was given the ball by her rival Harmanpreet Kaur in the second over to provide the side with a breakthrough, and she delivered.
Pooja delivered a short of a length delivery with some width on the opening ball of the second over, prompting Hayley to go for it with a back-foot punch. The additional bounce, though, beat her, as the ball touched the bat and was safely pouched by wicket-keeper Richa Ghosh.
Curiously, Hayley has had her own issues when dealing with specific types of bowlers. Records reveal that the flamboyant Windies batter was dismissed four times apiece by Pooja and English leggie Sarah Glenn.
After their convincing victory against archrivals Pakistan in their season opener, India chose to make a few changes for the Caribbean match. Vice-captain Smriti Mandhana and spinner Devika Vaidya have been recruited to the squad to replace openers Yastika Bhatia and Harleen Doel.
During the contest, the Ladies in Blue have already taken four wickets in under 15 overs and will be looking to limit the side to a low score. Deepti Sharma, India’s premier all-rounder, has already taken three wickets.
