COLOMBO - The familiar batting woes came back to haunt the Indian women's cricket team as it lost by a run against arch-rivals Pakistan in a low-scoring thriller to finish winless in ICC World Twenty20's Group stage on Monday.
Set a target of a mere 98 runs, the Indian women fumbled miserably to finish 97 for eight in their 20 overs to draw a blank in their Group A engagements and will now have to play hosts Sri Lanka on Wednesday to remain a part of the event in 2014.
It was a sort of revenge for Pakistan after its men's team was thoroughly outplayed by the arch-rivals last night in the same event. The Pakistani women managed to do what their male counterparts could not do against India last night -- keep it cool under pressure and emerge triumphant.
Despite today's win, the Pakistani women also failed to qualify for the semi-finals as they finished third in the four-team group ahead of India. Electing to bat, the Pakistani eves' batting was no better than India with wickets falling at regular intervals.
Skipper Sana Mir top-scored with a 38-ball 26, including two fours. Barring Nain Abidi (25) and Asmavia Iqbal (10) none of the other batters managed to hit the double-digit mark with extras (14) being the third-highest score in the Pakistani innings.
Pakistan will take on South Africa in their play-off encounter to stay in the 2014 World Twenty20.
Brief Scores:
Pakistan: 98/9 in 20 overs (Sana Mir 26; Jhulan Goswami 2/16)
India: 97/8 (Jhulan Goswami 21; Nida Dar 3/12).