WI Women vs PAK Women, 20th Match at Hamilton, Women's World Cup, Mar 21 2022 - Match Result

There we have it, a feel-good win for Pakistan. Commiserations to the West Indies but they have earned themselves another opportunity, which will come against South Africa to amend their errors and, ideally, bat better. For now, here is the Points Table and the traffic is high from the third to the sixth spot. This tournament has bloomed elegantly and is putting Women's cricket not just on the map but in hotspots. Thanks for sticking to our coverage despite the rains and delays. The comments during the breaks were effervescent, thoughtful, and delightful. I, Ekanth, will post a few more comments and am signing off on behalf of my co-commentator, the very generous Srivathsa Vennelaganti, S Sudarshanan, whose report will be coming up, and our scorer, Binoy George.

Tautoru: "What a great result, what a tournament. Something for everyone."

Pradeep: "Doesn't this result boost India's chances of semis?" It does, along with England's and keeps New Zealand just in the hunt, mathematically at least.

Vaibhav Athalye: "Mid-table muddle thickens with this amazing victory from Pakistan"

Sheldon: "It is strange that after such a good performance with the ball last game Taylor did not bowl one over"

Pranay: "Always good to see underdogs upsetting the (relatively) mighty!"

Peanut: "Thank you Pakistan! With love, a protea supporter."

Here's a polite enquiry to send in your #PoliteEnquiries. Go on the tweeter, use the hashtag, and get your rejoinders from Annesha Ghosh and Firdose Moonda

Bismah Maroof, Pakistan Captain: Feel relief, we wanted to win that badly. We were doing well but could not cross the line. Credit to the girls, we'll look to go onwards and upwards. The spinners enjoyed the game, think of the process and not the result ball by ball. With the bat, the talk between me and Muneeba was on taking pressure and pick the balls to hit. She scored well and was brilliant. We wanted this win, we were make small mistakes in finishing moments but will take this momentum forward.

Stafanie Taylor, West Indies Captain: Hayley and Dottin were looking at a total of 125. But when I got in, 110-115 seemed a good target. But we couldn't get there. (On the batting not clicking) The way we played against Bangladesh's spinners where we could not rotate strike happened again. But to get ourselves going, we could not turn over the strike. Pakistan bowled really well, with Nida and Anam, who kept it to 6 six runs were brilliant. It's a do-or-die situation against South Africa so we have to come up high.

This innings has shown the benefits of agility training. There were quick singles throughout the innings. The willingness to go after the bowling after being bogged down, be it from Muneeba, Bismah, or Omaima, was perfect for chasing a low but tricky score. They did get away with a few shots that landed safely but one can argue that the luck had been created or supplemented by proactive batting after an excellent outing with the ball. West Indies lost the game with the bat, they have managed to sneak through a couple of times despite putting up below par scores but with the wet outfield and the ball friendzoning the edges to fall safe, they could not pull things back. The win was well-deserved for Pakistan, this tournament continues to thrill, entertain, and spread joy generously.

Nida Dar, Player of the Match for her spell of 4-0-10-4 says the team looked forward to coming on the field after waiting on a bad-weather day. She's happy to have played her role well. As a senior player, she understands she's a role model of the team and is pleased to have performed well. She confesses she's a fan of Shahid and Shaheen Afridi and modeled her celebration after theirs.

10:06 pm: The smiles in Pakistan's camp is lighting up Hamilton after a dark, stormy day. Hugs and handshakes are layered by a sense of calming relief. The 18 loss streak in the WWC is over for Pakistan

Sudarshanan pings stats from Sampath, "Pakistan's last win was also against West Indies back in the 2009 edition - 13 years and 7 days (4755 days). Bismah Maroof the only common player in both those WC wins"

They set-up the game with the ball and ran their way through victory with the bat.

Over the wicket

Sajib: "West Indies will have only themselves to blame for if they fail to make it to the semis. Their performances in the last 2 matches have been shambolic."

Sajib: "West Indies will have only themselves to blame for if they fail to make it to the semis. Their performances in the last 2 matches have been shambolic."

Stephen: "A little flicker of hope for NZ fans if Pakistan can pull this off."

Nomi: "Sorry Santo, totally disagree Bisma's style is for old cricket and that's why Pak lose two close matches with such disruptive strike rate."

The wishing wells have responded. Dottin comes in, probably a bit too late (maybe better than never). She starts over the wicket

farazhaider: "pitch got easy in second inning or westindies bowling was not as good as pakistan?" The running has been the highlight. There is spin and extra bounce but timely boundaries have come with the odd slice of luck going for Pakistan as well

Ashish: "With only 1 boundary hit between these two, it really shows the temperament shown by them "

Santo: "we are talking about a lot of pakistan girls' slowness while batting.. but it was surpirsing that bismah's silent contribution has gone unnoticed.. she s been a rock for them except the first game and its amazing to see her rotation of strike and occassional innovative shots! really her coming back is a blessing in disguise of the pakistan team regardless of the results.. "

Umair : "This would be quite a challenge for Pakistan team to lose from here "

Over the wicket

ram: "Is whether clear enough for 24 more balls?" Haha yes