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India captain Shafali Verma smashed a brilliant 78 along with her opening partner Shweta Sehrawat, who carried her bat through for an unbeaten 74 to help India thrash UAE by 122 runs in their second Group D match of ICC U19 Women’s T20 World Cup at the Willowmoore Park, on Monday.
With the help of Shafali and Shweta’s entertaining knocks and a quickfire knock of 49 by Richa Ghosh, India managed to post a mammoth total of 219/3 in their 20 overs.
With this score, India became the first team in the tournament to post a total of 200+ in an inning.
In reply, the Indian bowlers were brilliant upfront with pacers Titas Sadhu and Shabnam M.D. taking a wicket each and were disciplined in their line and length to restrict UAE to a small total of just 97/5 in their 20 overs.
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In the spin department, left-arm spinner Mannat Kashyap and leg-spinner Parshavi Chopra also picked a wicket each.
With this win, India are now on top of the points table in Group D with two wins in as many matches. Their final match of Group D will be against Scotland on Wednesday.
After being put in to bat first, Shafali, Shweta and Richa, never let the momentum shift away from India at any stage and showed a positive intent right from the start to produce knocks that were dominating.
Shafali and Shweta cruised to share a first-wicket partnership of 111.
While Shweta played the anchor role in the partnership, Shafali was the fierce aggressor with her exquisite timing, scoring 78 off 34 balls which included twelve fours and four sixes at a strike-rate of 229.41, before getting caught in the ninth over off Indhuja Nandakumar.
After Shafali’s dismissal, Shweta then took charge and began hitting boundaries at regular intervals to remain unbeaten on a score of 74 off 49 balls, including ten fours at a strike rate of 151.02.
Wicket-keeper batter Richa joined Shweta in the fun by hitting 49 off 29 balls, including five fours and two sixes before getting dismissed off Mahika Gaur in the 19th over.
On a day where bowlers were hammered in all parts of the ground by the Indian batters and with UAE fielders dropping catches, medium pacer Samaira Dharnidharka was the pick of the bowlers for UAE for her figures of 1/33 in her four overs.
While chasing a target of 220, the UAE responded aggressively with opener and captain Theerta Satish scoring 16 off 5, including four fours in an opening over from Shabnam which went for 17 runs.
But the moment she was dismissed off the fifth ball of that over by Shabnam, it was all downhill for the UAE.
While they resisted being bundled out, a combination of accurate bowling and scoreboard pressure meant they never had a realistic chance of winning the match.
India skipper Shafali Verma was awarded Player of the Match for her brilliant knock of 78 off 34 deliveries.
Brief scores: India 219/3 in 20 overs (Shafali Verma 78, Shweta Sehrawat 74 not out; Samaira Dharnidharka 1-33, Indhuja Nandakumar 1-47) beat UAE 97/5 in 20 overs (Mahika Gaur 26, Lavanya Keny 24; Titas Sadhu 1-14, Parshavi Chopra 1-13) by 122 runs
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