In the first semifinal of the Women’s Asia Cup held at the Dubai International Stadium on Thursday, India secured a decisive 40-run victory over Bangladesh. Opener Shafali Verma played a pivotal role, scoring an impressive 64 runs off just 40 balls. Additionally, seasoned spinner Deepti Sharma showcased her skills with an outstanding bowling performance, taking 3 wickets for 26 runs. This win propels India into the final of the tournament, highlighting their strong form leading up to the championship match.
Asked to bat first, seven-time Asia Cup winner India recovered from early setbacks with Shafali Verma slamming another half-century, hitting seven boundaries and three sixes in her 40-ball knock, to help India post a competitive 149/6 in their 20 overs. Deepti then delivered a superb performance, along with the Indian women spinners, and helped them derail Bangladesh’s chase and restrict them to 109/7 in 20 overs, winning the match and made it to the final. With wickets falling at regular intervals, seasoned Sharmin Akter (1) and Fahima Khatun (14) could not provide Shorna Akter enough support as they went down tamely against an Indian side that was never threatened in the match. Bangladesh, though, will have themselves to blame as they dropped Shafali on 6, 11 and 56 and also missed a straightforward run-out chance. Despite her being scratchy, Deepti Sharma turned on the screws in the final over by launching Marufa for a four and a six off consecutive deliveries to score a quickfire 13 off six balls. But Deepti was caught at mid-off on the fifth delivery, while Bharti Fulmali was run out on the final ball of the innings as India collected 12 runs from the 20th over to finish one run shy of the 150-mark.
In all, they had a sloppy fielding unit performance. With run-scoring tough on the pitch, India will fancy her chances to enter the final on Sunday.
