India Women defeated Pakistan Women by seven wickets to enter their seventh Asia Cup final on Saturday.
India Women defeated Pakistan Women by seven wickets to enter their seventh Asia Cup final on Saturday. In what turned out to be a virtual semi-final between the arch-rivals, India’s bowling department, led by Ekta Bisht, restricted Pakistan to 72 for 7 in 20 overs and the Indians chased down the target in 16.1 overs with Smriti Mandhana and Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur doing the scoring with 38 and 34 runs respectively to take India to the final of Asia Cup T20.
Opting to bat first, Pakistan struggled right from the start. The opening batter Nahida Khan (18) and and Sana Mir (20*) were the only two batters who reached the double-figure mark for Pakistan. Even the in-form players like Nidar Dar and Bismah Maroof could not contribute much as they were dismissed for 8 and 4. Meanwhile, the Indian spinners were top-notch - Anuja Patil (1 for18), Bisht, Poonam Yadav (1 for 11) and Deepti Sharma (1 for13) - as they kept putting pressure regularly on the vulnerable opposition.
When India came out to bat, chasing a modest total of 73, Pakistan’s Anam Amin removed Mithali Raj on the final ball of the first over. That early dismissal turned out to be a consolation achievement for Pakistan in otherwise terrible situation in the match. The 25-year-old left-arm spinner from Lahore also sent Deepti back to the pavilion in the third over.
However, the duo of Mandhana and Harmanpreet held their nerves and put India in a comfortable position with their stand of 65 runs for the third wicket. Pakistan bagged another wicket when Nashra Sandhu removed Mandhana but by then, India needed just three more runs. The Indian skipper smashed a four to finish things off in style and take her side into a seventh final of Asia Cup.
The tournament’s inception took place in 2004 and the Indian women have won all the editions held so far.
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 "India Women enter Asia Cup T20 final 2018.")
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