India beat Pakistan to win sixth consecutive Women’s Twenty20 Asia Cup

Brief Scores: India 121/5 in 20 overs (Mithali Raj 73(65)*, Jhulan Goswami 17(10); Amin 2/24) beat Pakistan 104/6 in 20 overs (Maroof 25(26), Javeria Khan 22(26); Bisht 2/22)

Mithali Raj gave a good start to India at the top of the innings before her opening partner Smriti Mandhana was dismissed by a brilliant catch from Asmavia Iqbal in the fifth over. Although, the Indian middle-order failed to contribute, and Pakistan kept picking up wickets at regular intervals, Mithali Raj kept going at the other end and almost single-handedly took India’s score past 120. Jhulan Goswami provided a couple of heft blows towards the end in an important cameo before being dismissed in the penultimate delivery of India’s innings. However, Mithali Raj was able to carry her bat through in an innings which consisted of seven boundaries and a massive six.

Pakistan were off to a decent start in the chase but then they lost a couple of wickets in quick succession to go from 24/0 to 28/2. Ayesha Zafa became Goswami’s 50th T20 victim, while Shikha Pandey dislodged Asmavia Iqbal’s stumps. Javeria Khan and Bismah Maroof tried to rebuild the innings before the former was removed by Ekta Bisht. Pakistan kept losing wickets after that partnership and failed to keep up with the required run rate. In the end, they fell short by 17 runs.

This is the second time in a row that Pakistan have lost in the final of the tournament to India, who have now won all the six editions of the Women’s Asia Cup since it was played for the first time in 2004.