India beat Ireland by six wickets in opening ODI

First women’s ODI, Rajkot

Ireland 238-7 (50 overs): Lewis 92, Paul 59, Mishra 2-56

India 241-4 (34.3 overs): Rawal 89, Hasabnis 53*, Maguire 3-57

India won by six wickets

In their opening one-day international in Rajkot, India defeated Ireland by a score of six wickets.

As the first bilateral series between the sides began, skipper Gaby Lewis hit 92 as the visitors posted a score of 238-7. However, the tally never seemed to be sufficient, and Pratika Rawal’s 89 helped the hosts win with 15.3 overs to spare.

Despite Lewis ‘ impressive batting in her 50th one-day international, Ireland slipped to 56-4 by the 14th over with Priya Mishra’s two wickets including dismissing Laura Delany for a first-ball duck.

However, Lewis and Leah Paul (59) produced a 117-run partnership to steady the Ireland innings.

The fifth-wicket stand was ended by Harleen Deol running out Paul and Lewis ‘ 129-ball innings, which included 15 fours, then concluded as she was caught and bowled by Deepti Sharma.

As Harmanpreet Kaur rested for this series, Smitri Mandhana, who is now India’s skipper, led the hosts to 70 in 10 overs before going out for 41 with Freya Sargent as the wicket taker.

And while Aimee Maguire dismissed Harleen Deol (20) and Jemimah Rodrigues (nine), the latter stumped by wicketkeeper Coulter Reilly, Rawal’s 96-ball 89 enabled India to speed towards Ireland’s tally.

After putting together a 116-run partnership with Tejal Hasabnis, who was unbeaten on 53 as the hosts cruised to a comprehensive victory, Maguire’s third wicket saw Rawal 11 shy of a century away.

Lewis’ innings against India was the highest one-day international score by an Irish woman.

Lewis Ireland women’s record ODI runs were also broken by the knock, moving her to 1414, two more than Miriam Grealey’s tally, which had been in place since 2005.