Women’s Asia Cup 2024: India storm into semis after thumping win against Nepal
India made their way through to the semi-final of the Women’s Asia Cup 2024 after beating Nepal by 82 runs on Tuesday in Dambulla.
Along with India, Pakistan also secured their berth in the second round. Nepal needed to chase a target of 179 inside 10 overs, but the Indian bowlers did not allow them to get away at any stage of their run-chase.
India rested their skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and also left out Pooja Vastrakar. In Kaur’s absence, it was Smriti Mandhana who took charge. Arundhati Reddy, in the meantime, replaced Vastrakar in the playing XI. Interestingly, Mandhana did not come out to bat, giving the likes of Dayalan Hemalatha and Sajeevan Sajana chances to bat.
Shafali Verma had a brilliant day in the office after she scored 81 runs off 48 balls with the help of 12 fours and one six. She got to her half-century off 26 balls and looked dangerous. She also put on a handy partnership of 122 runs for the opening wicket with Hemalatha, laying the platform for India.
Hemalatha also found a bit of form with her top score of 47 in T20Is. Sajana, however, failed to get going before Kabita Joshi removed her. Jemimah Rodrigues played a cameo of 28 off 15 balls, injecting momentum into the innings. Sita Rana Magar was the pick of the Nepal bowlers with figures of 4-0-25-0.
Bowlers guide India home
India pushed Nepal back right from the word go after Arundhati Reddy got rid of the dangerous Samjhana Khadka. Sita Rana Magar hit three fours and looked good for a brief while before becoming Reddy’s second victim. Skipper Indu Barma and Rubine Chhetry also got into double digits, but could never kick on.
Radha Yadav, who had an outstanding series against South Africa, picked up two wickets. Nepal finished their innings at 96 for 9. Deepti Sharma showed her class yet again and finished with figures of 4-0-13-3. She also became the third-highest wicket-taker in Women’s T20Is, going past England’s Sophie Ecclestone and Australia’s Ellyse Perry.
India are awaiting their opponent in the semis as all of Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bangladesh and Malaysia are in contention to advance to the semis.