Sylhet (Bangladesh), Oct 13: Shafali Verma’s all-around show along with Deepti Sharma’s fiery bowling effort guided India to a comfortable 74-run win over Thailand in the first semifinal of the Women’s Asia Cup here at the Sylhet International Stadium on Thursday.
With a win, India confirmed their eighth final appearance in Women’s Asia Cup history.
Batting first, India lost Smiriti Mandhana (13) early in the fifth over. But the Indian women continued their dominance with Shafali’s 28-ball 42.
Shafali smashed five boundaries and a maximum during her 42-ball knock before getting dismissed in the 10th over.
Jemimah Rodrigues, who struggled early but found her flow later in the innings, fell to a catch at long-on for 27 before Tippoch had Richa Ghosh lbw for 2.
Then, Harmanpreet Kaur ( 36 off 30) and Pooja Vastrakar’s (17 0ff 13) helped India to post 148 for 6.
Chasing 174, Thailand had a terrible start as Deepti’s triple strike reduced them to 18 for 3 in the powerplay.
A 42-run stand for the fifth wicket between Naruemol Chaiwai and Nattaya Boochatham helped Thailand recover briefly, but Sneh Rana trapped the latter leg-before and triggered a collapse.
Renuka Singh and Shafali also picked a wicket as Thailand were eventually restricted to 74 for 9.
