By 
Indian spinners Sneh Rana, Rajeshwari Gaykwad, and Deepti Sharma shared seven wickets among them to bundle out Thailand to 37 before India chased the total in just 6 overs to set up a convincing nine-wicket win over Thailand in their last league match of the Women’s Asia Cup on Monday.
India comfortably chased down the score within the first six overs, losing only Shafali Verma, with Sabbhineni Meghana and Pooja Vastrakar unbeaten on 20(18) and 12(12) respectively.
Stand-in captain Smriti Mandhana, playing in her 100th T20I match, elected to bowl first, keeping in mind the damp pitch and conditions. Thailand were cautious as they made just 16/1 at the end of the powerplay, with Natthakan Chantham clean bowled by Deepti Sharma.
Thailand’s batting collapsed after the powerplay as Naruemol Chaiwai was run-out in the seventh over, with Meghna Singh at point effecting the dismissal with her throw. On the very next ball, Sneh bowled Chanida Sutthiruang through her defence for a golden duck.
Nannapat Koncharoenkai’s casual running resulted in her being run out in the eighth over. From there, Sneh and Rajeshwari ran through the middle order to leave Thailand at 28/8 in 12 overs. Meghna and Deepti took Nattaya Boochatham and Thipatcha Putthawong in successive overs before they hanged around for 17 balls to end Thailand’s distress at 37 as India took the last eight wickets for just 17 runs.
Koncharoenkai was the only batter from Thailand to reach double figures of 12 off 19 balls, as the second-highest score was just 7 off 17 balls by Nattaya Boochatham.
Deepti Sharma and Sneh Rana took 2/10 and 3/9, respectively, while left-arm spinner Rajeshwari Gaykwad ended with figures of 2/8. Indian pacer Meghna Singh also chipped in with a wicket to end Thailand’s struggle with the bat as they were bowled out for just 37 runs in 15.1 overs.
Chasing a tiny target of 38, Indian openers Sabbhineni Meghana and Shafali Verma started positively by hitting a four each in successive overs before Shafali lobbed a catch to cover off Nattaya in the third over. Pooja Vastrakar then joined Meghana, and the duo hit two fours each to take India to a comprehensive win. With this win, India has now reached the semi-finals of the Women’s Asia Cup along with Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Meanwhile, Thailand’s hopes of reaching the semifinals are hanging by a thread. Thailand are fourth on the points table with three wins and as many defeats, with a net run rate of -0.949. They would now need defending champions and hosts Bangladesh (with the net run rate of +0.423) to lose to the UAE to seal their semifinal spot.
“It’s a proud feeling, playing 100 T20Is for India. We won big, so shoutout to all the girls. It’s a fun team to play with and I’m happy to have played my 100th T20 with them.” said Indian stand-in captain, Mandhana.
I wouldn’t say they [Thailand] are a weaker opponent because they were playing really good cricket in the tournament. We were looking forward to coming and play against them. Definitely, things didn’t go their way today but our bowlers did well to restrict them to a low total. We have a semi-final in two days, so we will be working hard and looking forward for the semis.” she added.
Sneh Rana was awarded Player of the Match for her brilliant figures of 3/9 in 4 overs.
Brief scores: Thailand Women 37 all out in 15.1 overs (Nannapat Koncharoenkai 12; Sneh Rana 3/9, Deepti Sharma 2/10) lost to India Women 40/1 in 6 overs (Sabbhineni Meghana 20*, Pooja Vastrakar 12*; Nattaya Boochatham 1/15) by nine wickets
Comments