Why Pooja Vastrakar is not playing today against Pakistan in Women’s T20 World Cup?

After an embarrassing loss against New Zealand in their first game of the Women’s T20 World Cup 2024, India are up against their arch-rivals Pakistan for the 2nd match of the tournament. Pakistan won the toss and decided to bat first at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

However, India’s skipper Harmanpreet Kaur came up with a shocking decision as she informed that their ace pacer Pooja Vastrakar won’t be playing today. She is replaced by S Sajana. Harman said that Pooja is suffering from an injury that’s why they decided to rest her for the match.

“Pooja is out with an injury, she's replaced by Sajana. We'll have to move forward with a positive approach, it's always how you bounce back and we've spoken about it. We will go out there and play some positive cricket.” Harmanpreet said during the toss.

Pakistan put up a total of 105 runs

Talking about the match, Pakistan's decision to bat first didn't go well as they were restricted to just 105 runs in the first innings. Indian bowlers were superb with the ball today as each bowlers claimed a wicket. However, it was Arundhati Reddy who stood out to be the best bowler by taking 3 wickets in 4 overs. 

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Shreyanka Patil was the most economical bowler for the team as she conceded only 12 runs in her 4 overs quota and took 2 wickets as well. Apart from them, Deepti Sharma, Renuka Singh Thakur and Asha Shobana claimed one wicket each for the team. 

Indian batters have started the chase but didn't have a great start as they lost their first wicket on just 18 runs. the no. 1 batter of the team, Smriti Mandhana, went back to the pavilion after scoring just 7 runs. However, Shafali Varma and Jemimah Rodrigues steadied the ship and put up a brilliant partnership together. India are 59/1 at the time of writing.