It is one of the oldest cliches in the book. Bowling coach Aavishkar Salvi said a day before the India vs Pakistan match: “Everybody is in a good space where they are working in an ecosystem where they are trying to get their A-game onto the day.” But India’s game was not quite near A, it was perhaps down around somewhere of G or H in the English alphabet, a performance littered with technical and tactical errors through the night at the R.Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. In a match that was interrupted by bugs at one point, India glitched often. But it was still enough for Harmanpreet Kaur’s side to win by 88 runs and keep up their perfect record in women’s ODIs against Pakistan, improving it to 12-0.Having won the toss, Fatima Sana didn’t have any hesitation to bowl first, with the pitch in Colombo being under covers due to rain coming into the game. She went on to mention that the plan would be to restrict India below 250… which they actually ended up achieving too at 247, bowling India out for the first time in 12 meetings in this format.But it proved to be well beyond their reach, despite Sidra Amin’s 81 giving them some hope of breaking the duck. It was also telling that Harmanpreet said at the post-match chat that India “still have lots of areas to improve,” but she was just happy that India could cross the line with some cushion to boot.Like it was the case in Guwahati against Sri Lanka, India’s batters struggled to build momentum, which Harmanpreeet and Jemimah Rodrigues later attributed to the pitch being difficult to bat on in both venues so far. Each one of the top eight batters got off to starts, with seven of them crossing at least 20. Harleen Deol in action. (AP photo)But the highest score was a 65-ball 46 by Harleen Deol that actually raised more questions than provided answers. Three partnerships got into the 40s (48 for the first wicket, 45 for the fourth wicket, and 42 for the sixth wicket), but none of them kicked on to bigger tallies.Smriti Mandhana continued to look scratchy at the top of the order and fell for a 32-ball 23. Pratika Rawal’s sensational start as an ODI opener is starting to revert to the mean; she got off to a great start with a hat-trick of fours in Diana Baig’s first over, but got bogged down in the latter part of the innings. Harleen Deol’s partnership with Rawal was also similar to the one in Guwahati, as India, around the 20-over mark, were again playing out almost 70% of their innings in dot balls. Harmanpreet too struggled to get going.India’s batting effort gained some momentum when Jemimah Rodrigues came into the middle. Despite riding her luck (getting dismissed off a no ball when she was on 2), the right-hander gave some much-needed impetus to the innings, while Deepti Sharma once again played a handy knock under pressure.The most telling contribution with the bat for India, reassuringly, came from Richa Ghosh, who was demoted to No 8 below Sneh Rana. In Shafali Verma’s absence, she is the only proper power-hitter in this squad, and she flexed those muscles late in the piece. The standout shot of the evening was a sumptuous lofted inside-out drive over extra cover that went for six. Ghosh’s unbeaten 20-ball 35 was by some distance the most fluent batting effort from both sides.Story continues below this adBizarre start to second halfWith 247 on the board, and Pakistan never having crossed 192 in the previous 11 ODIs against India, Harmanpreet’s side were favourites at the halfway stage. But India’s sloppiness in the second half is a sure warning sign going ahead. The bowlers, to their credit, were quite impressive, led by the Kranti Goud and the returning Renuka Singh Thakur – the two pacers bowled in tandem for the first 15 overs and barely allowed Pakistan to breathe easy. India’s Kranti Goud celebrates the wicket of Pakistan’s Aliya Riaz during the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup match between India and Pakistan at Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Sunday, Oct, 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)India’s catching once again left a lot to be desired as Ghosh, who had a night to remember in front of the stumps, had one to forget from behind. She dropped Sidra Amin twice when the batter was on eight, and was also not helpful with the reviews. India burnt a review in the first over, but actually went on to miss three subsequent chances to review when batters would have been out LBW.The controversial run out of Muneeba Ali was a smart piece of fielding from Deepti, and Harmanpreet’s bullet throw later in the night to dismiss Diana Baig was also impressive, but the fielding otherwise was once again below par as India dropped at least five clear chances.In the end, Pakistan’s run-chase never really got going, and that was thanks mainly to Goud, who continues to impress early in her international career. She got the ball to straighten after angling in, making opener Sadaf Shamas play down the wrong line and completing a return catch. She got the ball to shape away from Aliya Riaz, who edged the ball to second slip – a fielding position that she insisted Harmanpreet must stick to.Then returning for a second spell, she accounted for Natalia Pervaiz and broke the only substantial partnership that Pakistan had. Goud, for her figures of 3/20 in 10 overs, walked with the player of the match and also as the biggest positive to emerge from the night for India. As she said with a beaming smile at the end, “I feel really proud, the people from my village (in Madhya Pradesh) would have been happy, as they set up an LED screen to watch the matches.”