Women's asia cup: New day, same old story as India cruise into final

Sylhet, October 13

A dominant India crushed minnows Thailand by 74 runs to storm into the final here today and remain on course for a record-extending seventh Women’s Asia Cup title.

The win took India to their eighth straight final — four each in the ODI and T20 formats. Before 2012, the tournament was a 50-over-a-side affair. The semifinal contest against Thailand was always expected to be a cakewalk for India.

India posted 148/6 after being sent in to bat and then restricted Thailand to 74/9 in the lopsided contest.

India play Sri Lanka, who eked out a thrilling one-run win over Pakistan in the other semifinal, in the final on Saturday.

Chasing the target, Thailand were never in the hunt as they lost wickets at regular intervals.

The Thai women, however, fared much better this time. In their previous outing against India in the league stage, they were crushed by nine wickets. However, Thailand today gave a better account of themselves with the bat despite being reduced to 21/4 in the eighth over.

Deepti Sharma (3/7) did most of the damage with her off-spin, dismissing Nannapat Koncharoenkai, Natthakan Chantham and Sornnarin Tippoch in consecutive overs. Captain Naruemol Chaiwai (21) and Nattaya Boochatham (21) showed some resistance with a 42-run stand for the fifth wicket but the asking rate was too tall. In fact, they were the only two Thai batters to register double digit scores.

Earlier, invited to bat, Shafali Verma top-scored for India with a 28-ball 42 with the help of five boundaries and one six. Together with vice-captain Smriti Mandhana, Verma shared 38 runs in 4.3 overs before the former hit a low full toss from Phannita Maya straight to Onnicha Kamchomphu at mid-on.

Brief scores: India: 148/6 in 20 overs (Verma 42, Kaur 36; Tippoch 3/24); Thailand: 74/9 in 20 overs (Chaiwai 21, Boochatham 21; Sharma 3/7).