In a high-intensity World Cup opening match for both Pakistan and India, Bismah Maroof won the toss and chose to bat first in Cape Town on Sunday.
After seeing off seamer Renuka Singh, the Pakistani batters looked to attack Deepti Sharma, bowling the second over, but the strategy backfired, as Javeria Khan (8) managed a only top edge off a paddle sweep to be caught by Harmanpreet Kaur at short fine leg.
With runs not coming thick and fast, Muneeba Ali and Bismah moved around the crease and took risky singles to keep the scoreboard ticking.
Pakistan were intent on scoring runs off Deepti and managed to accomplish it up to a certain degree, scoring 4 fours off her bowling.
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Despite conceding a few boundaries, the Indian bowlers managed to keep a check on the opposition batters conceding only 39 runs in the powerplay.
Radha Yadav was introduced and she struck immediately, removing Muneeba Ali (12), who stepped out of the crease only to be stumped by Richa Ghosh.
Pooja Vastrakar, who was brought on to bowl the eighth over, too, struck gold, dismissing Nida Dar for a duck.
Captain Bismah scored a chunk of the total score with Pakistan reeling at 58-3 after 10 overs.
Pakistan's struggle to score runs continued, as Yadav struck in the 13th over dismissing Sidra Amin (11), whose failed reverse sweep attempt lent a simple catch to Ghosh behind the wickets.
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Ayesha Nasem appeared to be playing with intent, scoring a rare boundary off Vastrakar. Kaur, then, placed one fielder each at long-off and long-on asking the bowlers to bowl within the stumps. This made scoring runs even more difficult for the batters.
Naseem, however, was relentless and managed to hit the first six of the match in the 16th over off Renuka, who ended up conceding 18 runs.
The aggressive approach from Pakistani batters prompted Indian bowlers to alter their strategy, which now looked like stopping the flow of runs instead of getting wickets.
Bismah, on the other hand, shifted to a support role by rotating strike to give the aggressive batter much of the strike. The captain brought her half-century off 45 deliveries, scoring a boundary off Vastrakar.
Radha Yadav dropped a skier in the 19th over, giving the dangerous Naseem a lifeline to go after the Indian bowlers in the final over. And she did; so did Bismah.
Deepti, who went for 26 off her 3 overs, was shouldered the responsibility of closing the innings for India. Harleen Deol, this time around, put down Naseem at long-off, and to add insult to injury, the ball went for a six.
Pakistan conceded 13 runs off the last over setting the tone for the match with 149-4. The Bismah-Naseem pair put on 81 runs for the fifth wicket, setting their highest T20I score against India.
