A fine spell of spin bowling by Neetu David and a brilliant 145-run first wicket partnership between Anju Jain (55) and Jaya Sharma (78) propelled India to a seven wicket win over West Indies in the second women's one-day international cricket match at Jamshedpur on Sunday.
After skittling out the visitors for 161 in 49.4 overs, the hosts built upon the solid platform given by the openers to reach 162 for three in 41.3 overs for their second win in the five-match series.
Jain and Sharma, both of whom were among runs in the opening game at Dhanbad, continued the good show and frustrated the Caribbean bowlers with the right mix of aggression and caution till the former misread a delivery from Fillipa Thomas and gave a simple catch to N Williams at mid on. She hit three boundaries during her 96-ball knock.
Sharma's knock was studded with 10 hits to the fence. Her dismissal to medium pacer Jacqueline Robinson came at a time when the team was needing just nine runs off 11.5 overs.
The Indians lost another wicket in the form of Diana David (3) but skipper skipper Mamatha Maben (5 not out) and Anjum Chopra (5 not out) saw their team home.
Earlier, the tourists, opting to bat first, failed to negotiate the bowling of left-arm spinner David who returned with figures of five for 20.
The visitors suffered a batting collapse after Nadine George (48) and Nelly Williams (28) added 84 runs for the first wicket.
Neetu, who scalped four for 21 at Dhanbad, maintained the momentum, claiming George, Juliana Nera (0), D Francis (17), skipper Stephanie Power (1) and F Thomas (8) as West Indies wickets tumbled at regular interval.
Scoreboard:
West Indies:
N George c D David b N David 48
N Williams st A Jain b D Kulkarni 28
J Nero lbw b N David 0
V Felecian c H Kala b N A Kader 13
D Francis c M Maben b N David 17
S Power c A Jain b N David 1
C Adkins st A Jain b D David 7
D A Lewis c M Maben b D David 1
F Thomas st A Jain b N David 8
J Robinson not out 11
F Cummins run out 5
Extras (b-2, lb-3, wb-17) 22
Total (all out in 49.4 overs) 161
Fall of wickets: 1-84, 2-84, 3-96, 4-112, 5-113, 6-127, 7-136, 8-144, 9-155.
Bowling: A Sharma 2-0-23-0, M Maben 6-0-29-0, A Chopra 2-0-15-0, N A Kader 10-1-32-1, N David 9.4-3-20-5, D David 10-1-27-2, D Kulkarni 10-4-10-1.
India:
A Jain c N Williams b F Thomas 55
J Sharma b J Robinson 78
A Chopra not out 5
D David lbw b F Thomas 3
M Maben not out 5
Extras (lb-2, w-15, nb-1) 18
Total (for 3 wkts in 41.3 overs) 164
Fall of wickets: 1/145, 2/153, 3/158
Bowling: J Robinson 10-0-27-1, F Thomas 9.3-1-30-2, D Francis 1-0-10-0, V Felecian 10-0-34-0, F Cummins 5-0-28-0, D A Lewis 3-1-22-0, C Adkins 3-0-11-0.
