Women's Asia Cup | Explosive Mithali and bowlers lead India to humongous 142-run win over Malaysia
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Indian womenâs cricket team started their Asia Cup campaign on a great note as they ran riot at the Kinrara Academy Oval to beat hosts Malaysia by 142 runs by bowling them out for just 27 runs in 13.4 overs. Mithali Raj played a huge role in the win as she top-scored with 97 runs off only 69 balls.
Brief scores: India Women 169/3 in 20 overs (Mithali Raj 97, Harmanpreet Kaur 32) beat Malaysia Women 27 in 13.4 overs (Pooja Vastrakar 3-6) by 142 runs.
The Indian Women's cricket team are in Malaysia to participate in the 2018 T20 Women's Asia Cup, which will see them go up against the likes of Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Thailand over the course of the next few weeks. India squared off against hosts Malaysia in their opening match at the Kinrara Academy Oval in Kuala Lumpur. Led by Harmanpreet Kaur, India won the toss and chose to bat first against the home team. Mithali Raj led from the front as usual as she scored a brilliant 97*off 69 after opening partner Smriti Mandhana departed after facing just four balls.
Pooja Vastrakar played a brief cameo as she got 16 off 13 balls but departed soon after while Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur also got in on the action late into the innings as she smashed a quickfire 32 off 23 to take the total to 169/3 after 20.
The hosts were always the underdogs in this encounter, but what happened in the second innings should be a wake-up call for the home team after they failed to cross the 30-run mark before being bowled out for a mere 27 runs. Pooja Vastrakar was the pick of the Indian bowlers as she bagged three wickets from three overs, giving away just 6 runs in the process. Anuja Patil and Poonam Yadav, both bagged 2 wickets each which ultimately spelt doom for the Malaysian team. Malaysian skipper Winifred Duraisingam scored five runs off 21 balls, while Sasha Azmi top scored with 9 runs for the hosts.
The Indian team will go up against Thailand in tomorrowâs match at the Royal Selangor Club in Kuala Lumpur.
