Mumbai Indians’ captain Harmanpreet Kaur. File Photo: BCCI via PTI Photo

West Indies, led by Hayley Matthews, will face New Zealand in the second semifinal of the Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 in Sharjah on October 18, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Eight years ago, West Indies beat New Zealand by just six runs in the second semifinal of the 2016 T20 World Cup. They went on to beat Australia in the summit clash for its maiden world T20 title. Come Friday, the Windies will hope the pattern repeats itself when they take on the Kiwis in the second semifinal of the ongoing edition of the tournament in Sharjah.

After a 10-wicket thrashing at the hands of South Africa, the Windies resurrected their campaign with wins in their other group fixtures against Bangladesh, Scotland and England.

New Zealand’s campaign — three wins in four games with the sole loss coming against Australia — might look comfortable when it was anything but. Comfortable margins hide multiple tales of stuttering from the White Ferns.

This is why West Indies enters this clash with an advantage over New Zealand despite being on the unfavourable end of a lopsided head-to-head record. In 24 meetings, the White Ferns have only lost five and won 15.

On the spin-friendly tracks here, expect Amelie Kerr – who tops the bowling charts alongside SA’s Nonkululeko Mlaba – to thrive. The Kiwis could bring back the right-arm off spin of Leigh Kasperek.

In the 20 wickets claimed in the group stage by the Windies, 17 have fallen to spin and so the Women in Maroon will bank heavily on their tweakers — Hayley Matthews, Afy Fletcher, Karishma Ramharack and Zaida James.

Hemalatha smashed five fours and two sixes in her unbeaten knock.
| Photo Credit: X/@BCBtigers

Radha Yadav and Dayalan Hemalatha produced an all-round show as a dominant India beat Bangladesh by 19 runs under the Duckworth/Lewis method in a rain-marred second women’s T20 International in Sylhet on Tuesday.

Led by left-arm spinner Radha’s splendid show, Indian bowlers bundled out Bangladesh for 119 after the hosts opted to bat first.

Radha finished with excellent figures of 3/19, while there were two wickets apiece for Deepti Sharma (2/14) and Shreyanka Patil (2/24).

For Bangladesh, opener Murshida Khatun top-scored with 46 off 49 balls.

Chasing a modest total, India lost an early wicket as Shafali Verma (0) was caught down the leg side after she tried to flick it through fine leg.

Hemalatha, however, blazed away to a 24-ball 41 as India raced to 47 for one in 5.2 overs, when the heaven opened up for the second time during the match. Hemalatha smashed five fours and two sixes in her unbeaten knock.

The par score was 28 and the Indian team was ahead by 19 runs, and with the surface rendered unplayable by the heavy rain, the visitors were declared winners.

India thus took a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.

Earlier, Dilara Akter got the Bangladesh innings underway when she pulled Renuka Singh, the star of the five-match series opener, over mid-wicket for a four in only the second ball of the match.

Akter got into a good position and whipped off her pads a swinging Renuka delivery over backward square leg for a boundary.

An 11-run first over was followed by the wicket of Akter as experienced spinner Deepti Sharma struck with one that was drifting in, which prompted the batter to go for a sweep but she could not get the elevation and ended up giving a catch to Renuka in the deep.

Renuka conceded another boundary when Murshida Khatun came down the track to smash her over mid-off.

India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur then made a mess of a straightforward chance off Renuka after getting both her hands to it, giving Murshida reprieve on 6 after the batter mistimed her shot.

One-down bat Sobhana Mostary opened her account with a boundary as she drove a Renuka delivery past backward point.

Renuka, meanwhile, was proving to be quite wayward on this day as he conceded another wide.

Deepti continued to bowl economically and gave away only three runs in her next over before Harmanpreet replaced a profligate Renuka with medium pacer Pooja Vastrakar. Mostary greeted Vastrakar with two fours, including a lovely cover drive.

There was a bowling change at the other end too, and off-spinner Shreyanka Patil struck in her very first over, having Mostary (19 off 15 balls) trapped in front of the wicket after a promising start by the batter.

Brought into the attack for the first time in the eighth over, left-arm spinner Radha started on a bright note before removing Bangladesh captain Nigar Sultana and Fahima Khatun off successive balls.

Radha, however, could not complete a hat-trick as Sultana Khatun struck her for a boundary.

Deepti bowled Ritu Moni for her second wicket, while Radha completed an excellent outing with the ball by having Rabeya Khan stumped.

The Senior Inter Zonal Multi-Day Trophy will begin in Pune on March 28, days after the ongoing Women’s Premier League ends on March 17. File photo
| Photo Credit: ANI

Women’s red-ball cricket will return to India’s domestic calendar after four years when the BCCI conducts a Senior Inter Zonal Multi-Day Trophy in Pune from March 28, the board announced on Friday, March 1, 2024.

The move comes after the Indian women’s team’s return to Test cricket. The side has played Tests against Australia and England in the recent years. Domestic red ball cricket for women was last held in 2018.

“It is a welcome step taken by BCCI. The national team has started playing Test cricket again and we need the next generation of cricketers to play red ball cricket at the domestic level,” former India pacer Amita Sharma said.

“I would also want red ball to be played at the state level and not just zonal level. Back in the day we had both those events,” she added.

The Maharashtra Cricket Association will be hosting the tournament which will feature six teams, representing East, West, North, South, Central, and North-East zones.

They will be competing in a series of five matches to be played across three days each, which is a day more than the two-day games played in the 2018 season.

The tournament will begin right after the ongoing Women’s Premier League, which ends on March 17.

It will start with the quarterfinals between East Zone and North East Zone and West Zone and Central Zone on March 28 with the semifinals slated on April 3.

The final is scheduled for April 9.