DUBAI: India notched a cautious six-wicket win over its sub-continent archrival Pakistan for its first points at the Women’s T20 World Cup on Sunday.
Pakistan was stifled by fast bowler Arundhati Reddy (3-19) and off-spinner Shreyanka Patil (2-12) to score a modest 105-8 on a slow wicket at the Dubai International Stadium with seasoned Nida Dar top-scoring with 28 off 34 balls.
India, which lost its first group A game against New Zealand by 58 runs, reached 108-4 in 18.5 overs as captain Harmanpreet Kaur made a calm 29 off 24 balls before retiring hurt late in the chase.
With only two needed for victory Kaur briefly lost her balance but regained her ground as wicketkeeper Muneeba Ali missed a stumping opportunity. Kaur clutched the back of her neck as she walked back to the dug out before Sajeevan Sajana reached the target with a boundary.
Despite the win, India is still fourth in the group with a poor net run-rate of -1.217 behind third place Pakistan, which beat Sri Lanka in its opening game and has a net run-rate of 0.555. New Zealand and Australia occupy the first two spots after winning their respective opening group games.
India had squeezed Pakistan to 7-71 in the 15th over despite Asha Sobhana dropping two easy catches off Muneeba Ali (17) and captain Fatima Sana (13). Muneeba’s struggling knock of 26 balls finally ended when she got stumped off Patil’s wide ball.
Sana smashed two boundaries but was brilliantly snapped by wicketkeeper Richa Gosh, who plucked a one-handed catch over her head behind the wicket to give some consolation to leg-spinner Sobhana (1-24) for her early lapse in the field.
Dar held the innings together in the death overs with a 28-run partnership with Syeda Aroob Shah, who scored 14, before Reddy had Dar clean bowled in the final over.
India’s batting powerhouse was over-cautious against Pakistan’s spin heavy bowling attack in their run-chase. Shafali Verma, who top-scored with 32 off 35 balls, successfully overturned a leg before wicket decision against her through television referral early in her knock but India’s top-order batters struck only five boundaries in their entire run-chase.
Sana (2-23) picked up two late wickets off successive balls when Jemimah Rodrigues (23) and Gosh both were caught behind. Sana came close to have Deepti Sharma lbw in her final over but the onfield decision was overturned by the third umpire when TV replays suggested the batter had got a thick inside edge.
In the second game of the day, Scotland won the toss and elected to bat against West Indies in a group B game with both teams looking for their first win in the tournament after losing their opening games of the tournament.
Indian women notch cautious 6-wicket win over archrival Pakistan at T20 World Cup
https://arab.news/rvvyd
Indian women notch cautious 6-wicket win over archrival Pakistan at T20 World Cup
- Pakistan was stifled by fast bowler Arundhati Reddy (3-19) and off-spinner Shreyanka Patil (2-12) to score a modest 105-8
- India reached 108-4 in 18.5 overs as captain Harmanpreet Kaur made a calm 29 off 24 balls before retiring hurt late in the chase
No casualties as blast derails Jaffar Express train in Pakistan’s south
- Passengers were stranded and railway staffers were clearing the track after blast, official says
- In March 2025, separatist militants hijacked the same train with hundreds of passengers aboard
QUETTA: A blast hit Jaffar Express and derailed four carriages of the passenger train in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province on Monday, officials said, with no casualties reported.
The blast occurred at the Abad railway station when the Peshawar-bound train was on its way to Sindh’s Sukkur city from Quetta, according to Pakistan Railways’ Quetta Division controller Muhammad Kashif.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the bomb attack, but passenger trains have often been targeted by Baloch separatist outfits in the restive Balochistan province that borders Sindh.
“Four bogies of the train were derailed due to the intensity of the explosion,” Kashif told Arab News. “No casualty was reported in the latest attack on passenger train.”
Another railway employee, who was aboard the train and requested anonymity, said the train was heading toward Sukkur from Jacobabad when they heard the powerful explosion, which derailed power van among four bogies.
“A small piece of the railway track has been destroyed,” he said, adding that passengers were now standing outside the train and railway staffers were busy clearing the track.
In March last year, fighters belonging to the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) separatist group had stormed Jaffar Express with hundreds of passengers on board and took them hostage. The military had rescued them after an hours-long operation that left 33 militants, 23 soldiers, three railway staff and five passengers dead.
The passenger train, which runs between Balochistan’s provincial capital of Quetta and Peshawar in the country’s northwest, had been targeted in at least four bomb attacks last year since the March hijacking, according to an Arab News tally.
Pakistan Railways says it has beefed up security arrangements for passenger trains in the province and increased the number of paramilitary troops on Jaffar Express since the hijacking in March, but militants have continued to target them in the restive region.
Balochistan, Pakistan’s southwestern province that borders Iran and Afghanistan, is the site of a decades-long insurgency waged by Baloch separatist groups who often attack security forces and foreigners, and kidnap government officials.
The separatists accuse the central government of stealing the region’s resources to fund development elsewhere in the country. The Pakistani government denies the allegations and says it is working for the uplift of local communities in Balochistan.
