India trounce Bangladesh by 10 wickets to storm into the final of Women's Asia Cup 2024
Defending champions India have stormed into the final of the Women's Asia Cup 2024 as they trounced Bangladesh by 10 wickets in the first semi-final on Friday (July 26) in Dambulla. Smriti Mandhana and Renuka Singh were the star performers with the bat and ball, respectively, as Bangladesh had no answers to India's brilliance across departments.
It was Bangladesh skipper Nigar Sultana, who opted to bat first after winning the toss. However, she was one of the only two batters from her side to reach double figures, top-scoring with 32. Shorna Akter was the other Bangladesh player to get to double figures, remaining unbeaten on 19 off 18 deliveries.
Renuka Singh emerged as the pick of the bowlers for India with figures of 4-1-10-3, while Radha Yadav had a haul of 4-1-14-3. Pooja Vastrakar and Deepti Sharma bowled economically and took one wicket each to restrict the opposition to 80/8 in 20 overs.
Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma construct a pristine run-chase for India
Meanwhile, India openers Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Varma started playing their shots from the outset and cut over half of the target by the end of the fifth over. The Women in Blue did offer a few chances, but Bangladesh's fielding was poor. The first opportunity came in the eighth over when Mandhana had spooned a full toss towards point and the fielder caught it, but Jahanara Alam had overstepped big time.
The second opportunity came in the ninth over as Nahida Akter shelled a catch off Rabeya Khan's bowling. Mandhana got to her half-century in the 11th over of the run-chase with a boundary off Nahida's bowling. The southpaw smacked another boundary to hit the winning runs.
The defending champions will either face Pakistan or Sri Lanka in the final on Sunday (July 28) after the knockout game between the two teams takes place on Friday.
Harmanpreet Kaur and co. have already beaten Pakistan once in the tournament.