India has secured a place in the Women’s Asia Cup semifinal after a dominant victory over Pakistan in their final group-stage match. N Sree Charni and Prema Rawat shone brightest, each taking three wickets, restricting the oldest rivals to 55, and India won by 7 wickets.
Apart from Rawat and Charani, Deepti Sharma and Shafali Verma took 2 and 1 wickets each, respectively. Pakistan’s only highest scorer was Shawaal Zulfiqar, who scored 14(14).
Deepti Sharma and N Sree Charni had the lowest economy rate at 1.57 and 1.75, respectively. Shafali Verma was striking at 200.00; however fell for 12(6), Mandhana got out for 9(11), while Pratika Rawal got out for 4(3).
India have given up just 176 runs and scored a total of 409 runs against all opponents. Although their middle-order struggled, Harmanpreet Kaur and Deepti Sharma secured the win today, even though the target was relatively low. Sharma made 12 off 14 balls, and Kaur scored 18 off 18 balls.
All three wickets of India were taken by Pakistan’s skipper Fatima Sana.
India’s next match will be on Thursday, 10th September, and the opponent is yet to be decided. Looking at Group A, it is very likely Pakistan will advance to the semis after their final group stage match against Hong Kong.
From Group B, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh look likely to qualify for the semis, even though UAE has one win; their net run rate sits below Bangladesh’s.
