India reached their 10th successive final of the Women’s Asia Cup when they defeated Bangladesh by 40 runs in the first semi-final played at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium earlier this week.
This is the 10th edition of the tournament and India has made it to the final in all of them thus underlying their dominance. They will meet Sri Lanka in the final.
It wasn’t easy for India, but they found a way to get close to the 150-run mark, and for that they had to thank Shafali Verma, who smashed seven fours and three sixes en route to her 20th fifty in WT20I cricket – a 64 off 40 deliveries. Bangladesh had only themselves to blame for they dropped her three times and also missed a straightforward run-out opportunity.
India lost Smriti Mandhana early, but Pratika Rawal and Verma put on 50 runs for the second wicket off 44 balls to steady the innings. It was Verma who kept the pressure on Bangladesh, taking the attack to them. Pratika scored 20 off 24, while Harmanpreet Kaur remained unbeaten on 24 off 28 as they found it difficult to score at a brisk pace. Richa Ghosh (21 off 16) and Deepti Sharma (13 off 6) chipped in with useful cameos in the latter half to ensure India didn’t lose momentum. Run-scoring had been tough on this slow pitch, as Bangladesh was to find out later in their innings.
