Butter-fingered India let Ireland off the hook with their pathetic fielding as visiting skipper Gaby Lewis carved out a classy 92 to lift her team to a respectable 238 for seven in the first women’s ODI here on Friday.
Opting to bat, Ireland were in deep trouble at 56 for four in the 14th over, but Lewis and Leah Paul (59 off 73 balls) added 117 runs for the fifth wicket to steer their team to safety. Lewis scored her runs in 129 balls, lacing the knock with 15 boundaries.
Aided by at least three clear dropped catches and a few misfields, the duo of Lewis and Paul went about their job in a calculated manner and brought a semblance of stability to the Ireland innings while putting together the team’s first-ever century partnership against India.
Asked to bowl first, medium pacer Titas Sadhu effected the first breakthrough for India when she induced an outside edge from Sarah Forbes (9) after the batter tried to play away from her body, and Deepti Sharma did the rest in the slip cordon.