India extended their dominance over Pakistan at the Women’s Asia Cup, notching up a seven-wicket victory in their opening game in windy Dambulla on Friday evening. It was set up by a clinical bowling display, the defending champions bowling Pakistan out for 108. Shafali Verma’s  and Smriti Mandhana’s  breezy 85-run opening stand then ensured India chased the target down comfortably, in 14.1 overs.

India now have a 6-1 win-loss record against Pakistan in this competition, and a 12-3 record in T20Is overall.

With Renuka Singh back in the XI after having missed the last two T20Is against South Africa leading into the Asia Cup, India bowled five overs of pace in the powerplay. It pegged Pakistan back early, mainly thanks to Pooja Vastrakar.  She started her first over with a short ball and was hit for a boundary second delivery but persisted with this length and it worked. She first removed Gull Feroza – who opened instead of Sidra Amin – as she mistimed a pull towards mid-on for Harmanpreet Kaur to complete the catch. In her next over, fourth of the innings, Vastrakar dismissed Muneeba Ali for a run-a-ball 11 with another short one; the batter was on her toes to upper cut but top edged to Jemimah Rodrigues in the covers to leave Pakistan 26 for 2.

In stark contrast with Pakistan’s innings, India’s openers Shafali and Mandhana got them off to a flying start, scoring 57 in the powerplay. The same surface was used earlier in the day for the tournament opener, where Nepal beat UAE but the duo quickly adjusted to the slowness of it in the chase.

Pakistan toiled to get their line and length right and, as a result, gave away boundaries through both over-pitched and short deliveries. Shafali brought up the first of six fours with a flick to square leg in the first over. Short balls from left-arm spinner Sadia Iqbal were cut away through covers and pulled through midwicket. She also punished fast bowler Fatima Sana with two fours in her second over, the fifth overall, to race to 35 off 22 at the end of the powerplay.

Brief scores:
India Women  109 for 3 in 14.1 overs (Smriti Mandhana 45, Shafali Verma 40; Nastra Sandhu 1-20, Syeda Shah 2-09) beat Pakistan Women  108 in 19.2 overs (Sidra Amin  25, Tuba Hassan 22, Fatima Sana 22;  Deepti Sharma  3-20, Renuka Singh  2-14, Shreyanka Patil  2-14, Pooja Vastrakar 2-31) by seven wickets