Indian women produced a dominating performance with both bat and ball to crush Nepal by 82 runs and seal a semi-final spot in the Asia Cup tournament. Indian bowlers dominated the proceedings right from the start and never allowed Nepal batters to creep into the game. Women in Blue bowled good lines and lengths to take wickets regularly, restricting Nepal to 96/9. Deepti Sharma starred with a three-wicket haul while Arundhati Reddy and Radha Yadav picked up two each.

India’s skipper Smriti Mandhana’s decision to bat first proved fruitful as Shafali Verma and Dayalan Hemalatha added 122 runs for the opening wicket. Shafali played an attacking innings, smashing boundaries all over the park while Hemalatha played an anchoring knock. Sita Rana Magar gave Nepal a much-needed breakthrough by dismissing Hemalatha for 47.

Shafali continued his onslaught and departed after playing a valiant knock of 48-ball 81. Shafali was honored with the Player of the Match award for her top-scoring knock. Sajeevan Sajana chipped in with 10 while Jemimah Rodrigues gave a fine finishing touch to India’s innings. Rodrigues’ 15-ball 28 cameo helped India to reach a competitive 178/3 in 20 overs.

In reply, Reddy gave India a fine start by cleaning up Samjhana Khadka for just 7 in the second over. Moments later, Renuka got the better of Kabita Kunwar (6). Indu Barma (14) and Magar (18), who looked to rebuild the Nepal innings, departed quickly. Deepti then gave a double blow for Nepal in the 14th over and they found it hard to recover from there, and eventually, lost the game.