Shafali’s all-round show and Mandhana’s 74 send India top of Group 1

India turned the second week of their Women’s T20 World Cup into a statement at Headingley, piling up 209 for 5 against the Netherlands and then ripping the Dutch chase apart to win by 95 runs. Two more points, a fattened net run rate, and top spot in Group 1 above Australia: a very good night’s work in Leeds.

Mandhana and Shafali set the tone

The damage was done up front. Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma put on 115 for the opening wicket, and from the moment they settled the bowling never looked like containing them. Mandhana made 74 off 47 balls, bringing up her second fifty of the tournament off just 36 deliveries before she finally holed out. Shafali matched her stroke for stroke, racing to 55 from 38 before she picked out long-on going for one big hit too many.

That platform let the middle order swing freely, and 209 for 5 is the highest total India have ever managed at a Women’s T20 World Cup, clearing the 194 they made against New Zealand back in 2018. On a ground this size, against a side playing only its second match at this level, it always felt like more than enough.

Shafali backs it up with the ball

If the batting was expected, the way Shafali kept going afterwards was the bonus. She followed her half-century by taking 3 for 20 with her off-breaks, turning a useful all-rounder’s evening into a match-shaping one. The Netherlands had no answer to the spin from either end.

Shree Charani was the pick of the attack, finishing with 4 for 19 as the Dutch were bowled out for 114. Chasing 210 was never a realistic ask, and once the openers fell the innings folded around the asking rate rather than any sustained fightback. India squeezed, the wickets came in clusters, and the margin told the story.

Net run rate now works in India’s favour

This was India’s second win in a row, and the size of it matters as much as the result. By winning so heavily, India leapfrogged Australia at the top of Group 1 on net run rate, which could prove decisive if the group goes down to the wire. In a format where a single rain-hit night can scramble the table, banking a 95-run margin is the kind of insurance a side wants early.

There is still plenty of cricket to play, and tougher tests than the Netherlands are coming. But India have momentum, runs in the bank from two of the best openers in the women’s game, and a bowling group that has now defended a big total and rolled a side over inside the overs. For a team that came into this World Cup carrying years of near-misses, that is a settling way to move through the group stage.

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