Team India’s explosive opener Shafali Verma‘s maiden T20I fifty came in a winning cause against Nepal in their final group match of the Women’s Asia Cup 2024 as defending champions India confirms their place in the semifinal spot.
Opener Shafali Verma and Dayalan Hemalatha (47) gave India a commanding start after stand-in skipper Smriti Mandhana won the toss and decided to bat. These two set the platform by adding 122 runs in 14 overs for the first wicket. This was the highest opening stand across editions of the Women’s T20 Asia Cup. After that Jemimah Rodrigues hit a quick fire 28 off 15 balls to take India to 178 for three. In response, Nepal lost wickets at regular intervals. To qualify for the semifinals, Nepal needed to achieve the target within 10 overs but they could only manage 96 for nine in their 20 overs.
Deepti Sharma (3/13), while leading the bowling chart, took three wickets for just 13 runs. While Radha Yadav and Arundhati Reddy snapped two wickets each.
Shafali Verma’s impact
Indian opener played a superb innings of 81 off 48 balls to power India to a total of 178 runs against Nepal in their final group game. With regular skipper Harmanpreet Kaur skipping the match and India sitting at the top of the group, stand-in captain Smriti Mandhana decided to shuffle the batting order to give time to the lower order in the middle. Shafali capitalized on the struggle of Nepal bowler’s. Playing with a good intent, she brought up her tenth T20I fifty in the 8th over, off just 26 balls. Scoring with a strike rate of 168.75, she smashed 12 fours and one six.
India’s previous two matches
India women vs Pakistan Women
In their first match of the Women’s Asia Cup 2024, Team India faced their arch-rivals Pakistan. Chasing 109 in 20 overs, Indian openers Shafali Verma (40) and Smriti Mandhana (45) were at their best. It was an aggressive display from both the openers as they mostly dealt in boundaries. Earlier, Indian bowlers didn’t allow Pakistani batters to settle down as Deepti Sharma bowled a brilliant spell by taking 3 wickets for just 20 runs and Renuka Singh, Puja Vastrakar and shreyanka Patil took 2 wickets each.
India Women vs United Arab Emirates Women
In the next game against UAE, Half-centuries from skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and Richa Ghosh took India to a massive 201/5 in the first innings. After that an all round bowling performance from India restricted United Arab Emirates to 123’/7 in 20 overs. Deepti Sharma, with her bowling figure of (2/23) was the leader of the bowling chart helped by Renuka Singh, Puja Vastrakar, Radha Yadav and Tanuja Kanwar. Team India won that match by 78 runs.
Women’s Asia Cup 2024: Semi-finals fixtures
With the victory over Nepal, Team India finishes at the top of their group and Pakistan finishes at the second position. While the other two semi finalists from Group B will join today after the conclusion of their last games. Both semi-finals will be played on 26th July.
When are the Women’s Asia Cup 2024 Semi-finals?
Both semi-finals will be played on 26th July.
