Kranti Gaud’s rapid ascent continued with a star turn for India against Pakistan that was cheered to the rafters back in her home village of Ghuwara.
The 22-year-old fast bowler took three for 20 from 10 overs, effectively shutting down Pakistan’s chase of 247 in an 88-run win for India.
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Having only made her international debut in May, it continued a stunning few months for Gaud, who grew up in Ghuwara, in Chhartarpur.
Those back home were watching on intently to see how she got on in Colombo, with the crucial wicket coming when she insisted on having a second slip with Aliya Riaz finding Deepti Sharma in the spot to make it 26 for three after 11 overs.
Gaud said: “It feels very good. I’m proud for me, and the people from my village. They’ve got a big screen up.
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“Harman (Harmanpreet Kaur, India captain) asked to remove the second slip as the pace was reducing but I insisted on it. My coaches tell me normal things and I catch onto them.”
India had been put into bat and built slowly on their way to 247 all out, with Harleen Deol the pick of the batters, making 46.
Richa Ghosh then contributed a quickfire 35 unbeaten at the end of the innings to set a tricky target.
India skipper Kaur said: “I’m very happy, it’s an important win. Our bowling was great, Kranti was outstanding. Renuka (Singh) helped her.
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“We created so many chances, we dropped some. But this win makes us happy.
“It wasn’t easy to bat on, we wanted to bat long and see how much we got. It’s been raining and there was a hold on the pitch.
“We wanted to keep wickets in hand, Richa then gave us 30 crucial runs. Right now, I’m happy we won.
“I just want to go with the momentum when we go back to India. We know how the pitches there are, we hope to work our combinations.”
While India are now two from two, Pakistan are still searching for a first win of the tournament, having been bowled out for 159 in their chase.
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Sidra Amin batted beautifully for 81 but only Natalia Pervaiz was able to provide significant support, eventually dismissed by Gaud for 33.
Skipper Fatima Sana admitted that they had let India get a few too many runs.
She said: “We gave a lot of runs in the powerplay, extras too. That was the case in the death too. I felt we needed to restrict them under 200.
“We decided to go with specialist batters in the top five, they need to step up. We need to express ourselves, build long partnerships, assess and a
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